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sV V BEAUTIES 

OF 

NATURE DELINEATED; 

OR, 

PHILOSOPHICAL 
AND PIOUS CONTEMPLATIONS 

ON THE 

WORKS OF NATURE, 

AND THE 

SEASONS of the YEAR. 



SeleBed from Sturm's REFLECTIONS, 

By the Rev. THADDEUS M. HARRIS. 

" Whom Nature's works can charm, with God himfelf 
ic Hold converfe ; grow familiar day by day 
" With his conceptions, act upon his plan, 
& And form to his the relifh of their fouls." 

Akenside= 



Second Edition. Publijhsd agreeably to AB ef Congrefs* 



CSarleftoton : 

PRINTED AND SOLD BY 

SAMUEL ETHERIDGE. 
1 80 1. A 



M 



&* 



^ 

* 



X HE feleclion here ofFered to the public is made 
from Sturm's " Reflections, on the works of God 
and of bis Providence, throughout ail nature, for every 
day in the Year" Copious teftimonials in favor of 
that work might have been extracted from foreign 
Journals and Reviews ; but it will be fufficient to 
obferve that its merit, and the high opinion which 
has been entertained of it, are fufficiently evinced 
in the numerous and large editions through 
which it has palled in the original German and 
in moil of the languages of Europe. Though the 
Englifh tranflation is inaccurate, inelegant, and 
frequently ungrammatical, it has been well re- 
ceived and frequently reprinted.* So interefting, 
entertaining, and inftrudive was the matter and 
the fentiment, that the manner and the flyle was 

* Tranflatedinto Englifh- from the German, by a Lady, 
. in 3 volumes, i mo. 



IV PREFACE. 

but little regarded.* The editor was employed 
to revife thofe volumes, and make fuch correc- 
tions in the ftyle and natural philofophy (for the 
author was not fully acquainted with the modern 
difcoveries and improvements) as would recom- 
mend an impreflion of the work in America. But 
he found fo much that might be corrected, and fo 
much that might be omitted, that he thought it 
advifable to relinquifh the idea of retaining the 
whole feries of numbers, and to give the work 
itfelf a new form. Accordingly he has arranged 
the fubjecls in a natural and perfpicucus order, 
calculated to carry forward the thoughts in an in- 
ftruclive and pleafmg train. He has frequently 
united and compreffed feveral of the numbers into 
one ; omitting, abridging, and altering para- 
graphs as he thought beft. In fhort, the moft 
fcattered materials he has endeavored to difpofe 
into fomething like order and fyftem. Of this the 
table of contents will give fome idea. The fir ft 
part is intended to exhibit diftinct views of the 
Works of Nature ; the fecond is accommodated, 
principally, to the Seafons of the Year. 

* Since, a new tranflation, abridged, has been pub- 
lifhed by Hemet, 1798, in a nmo. vol. of 448 pages. 
And a little volume has appeared, called "The Beauties 
of Sturm, by Ej^iza Andrews." Thefe the Editor has 
lately feen ; but they could neither affift nor fupercede 
the prefent work, 



PREFACE. V 

Thofe articles, which in the table of contents 
are diftinguifhed by an afterifm, are principally or 
entirely compiled from other fources : a liberty 
not freely indulged in any of the reft. 

At the recommendation of a particular friend, 
and in compliance with the tafte of the day, mot- 
tos have been feledted, as heads to the different 
chapters. Thefe are chiefly taken from the Eng- 
lifli poets ; but fome are original. Perfons of 
more retentive memories might have recollected 
better ones ; but it is hoped that thefe will not be 
thought altogether unappropriate. 

To every refle&ing, ferious, perfon, this little 
volume will prove a valuable acquifition. It is 
eminently calculated to give enlarged conception? 
of the works of Creation ; and, by an eafy tran- 
sition, to lead the thoughts " from Nature up to 
Nature's God." It is particularly ufeful to young 
perfons, whom it will furnifh with a juft and ra- 
tional knowledge of the various phenomena of 
nature, and the admirable economy of the fyftem 
to which they belong ; affifting them in the wife ft 
reflections upon every thing around them, and in- 
spiring them with the moji exalted fenti?nents of the 
Supreme Being — all whofe works proclaim and 
praife him. 

" Who can this field of miracles furvey, 
" And not with Galen all in rapture fay, 
** Behold a God ! adore him and obey !" 



VI ADVERTISEMENT. 



Advertifement to thisfecond Edition* 



The rapid fale of a large edition of this inter- 
efting work, and the continued demand for it, 
making another impreffion neceflary, the Editor 
has endeavored to render it ftill more worthy 
of the public favor, by a careful revifion of the 
whole, by refcinding fome fentences that had 
been undefignedly repeated, and by adding fev- 
eral important articles. For the liberty he has 
taken of inferting new matter, with extracts 
from other authors, he affigns this reafon, that 
he thought it neceiTary to fupply the defects of 
the original work and complete the plan of this. 

It is thought expedient to inform the public, 
that, it is prefumed that this volume is now as 
perfect as would comport with profeffing it to 
be felected from Sturm ; and that therefore all 
future editions will be without farther alteration 
or enlargement. 






TABLE of CONTENTS. 



PART I. 



ON THE WORKS OF NATURE. 



Page. 
i. AN invitation to contemplate God in 

the works of nature 1 1 

2. Nature difplayed 14 

3. Magnificence of God in his works 19 

4. Pleafures which the contemplation of 

nature procures 25 

5. The enjoyments which we find in 

nature 2 7 

6. Nature is a leflbn for the heart 3 1 

7. Meditation on the works of nature 33 
. 8. Hymn of thankfgiving for the works of 

the Creator 35 

.9. God's univerfal care of his creatures 37 

10. Daily proofs of God's goodnefs 41 

11. Reafons for confidence in God 43 



VI 11 

14. 


CONTENTS. 

Reafons for Content 

Reflexions on the animal creation 

The fpherical form of the earth 


Page. 

46 

48 

5 2 


16. 

17. 


Utility of mountains 
Utility of rain 
Utility of rivers 


5S 

62 


18. 


*0n the ocean 


65 


19. 


*On the tides 


70 


20. 
21, 


Earthquakes 
Simrife 


76 
80 


22. 


Rainbow 


82 


23- 
24. 


*Ufe and neceffity of air 
Reflections on woods and forefts 


84 
87 


25- 
26. 


Contemplations on the ftarry heavens 
Sentiments which the contemplation 


9* 

of 




the fky excites 


,96 


27. 
28. 


The blue color of the fky 
*Sun 


98 
100 


29. 


Planetary fyftem 


103 


3°- 


Moon 


no 


3 1 - 


Eciipfes of the fun and moon 


114 


J*- 


* Comets 


11S 


5 1 
34- 


Milkyway 
Plurality of worlds 


127 
129 


55- 
36. 


Difcoveries made by the microfcope 
Several ufes of fire 


136 


37- 


Myfteries of nature 


«39 



CONTENTS* IX 



PART II. 



ON THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 



Page. 

1. MEDITATION on the firft day of the 

year 143 

2. Equal diftribution of the feafons 146 

3. Changes of the feafons '148 

4. Complaints of mankind relative to certain 

inconveniences in the laws of n ature 151 



SPRING. 



5. HOPE of SPRING 155 

6. Reflections on the Spring *57 

7. Ufe of vegetables 167 
8.' On the bio/Toms of trees 169 
9. Reflections on a flower garden 172 

10. The beauty and utility of the meadows 

and fields 175 

it. Contemplations on a meadow 179 



X CONTENTS. 

SUMMER. 

Page. 

12. REFLECTIONS on the SUMMER 183 

13. On the dew 195 

14. End of Summer 197 

15. Reflexions on the Summer which has 

juft paft 198 

16. A remembrance of the bleffings which 

Spring and Summer afford us 201 

I" . ., — —— — — — 1 1 11 

AUTUMN. 



17. REFLECTIONS on the AUTUMN 203 

18. Harveft Hymn 212 



WINTER. 



19. REFLECTIONS on the WINTER 214 

20. Duty of collecting our thoughts in 

Winter 225 

21. HYMN of PRAISE to GOD 228 

22. Rapidity with which life pafles away 230 

23. Inftability of earthly things I33 
2 4. Clofe of the Year 236 



PART I, 



ON THR 



WORKS of NATURE. 



AN INVITATION TO CONTEMPLATE GOD IN THE 
WORKS OF NATURE. 



* Begin my foul the exalted lay ! 
u Let each enraptur'd thought obey, 

" And praife the Almighty's name, 
" Lo ! Heaven, and earth, and feas, and ffcics ? 
" In one melodious concert rife, 
" To fwell the infpiring theme !" 

o GIL VIE, 



\J YE who adore with me the Lord, by whom 
the heavens and the earth were made, come and 
refleft on his works ! Behold the wonders that he 
has done ! Acknowledge and have a lively fenfe 
of his mercies ! Of all the knowledge that we can 
acquire this is the moft important, the moil eafy 
and agreeable. We could difpenfe with many 
fciences which we take fuch pains to learn ; but 
the knowledge of God and his works is abfolutely. 



12 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

necefTary, if we wifh to fulfil the end of our 
creation, and by that mean fecure our happinefs 
here and hereafter. We do well undoubtedly to 
feek to know God, fuch as he has revealed him- 
felf to us in his divine word ; but we fhall not 
receive that revelation with an entire convidtion 
of heart, if we do not join to it this other revela- 
tion, by which he has made himfelf manifeft to us 
throughout all nature, as our Lord, our Father, 
and Benefa&or. It is the beft preparation to un- 
derftand, and to receive as we ought the gofpel 
of Chrift, for this reafon, that, in teaching his dis- 
ciples the truth of religion, the divine Redeemer 
often fpoke of the works of nature, and made 
ufe of the objects which the phyfical and moral 
world afford, to lead his hearers to refledlions 
on fpiritual and heavenly things. In general it is 
a noble employment, and well worthy of man, to 
ftudy conftantly the book of nature ', to learn in 
it the truths which may remind us of the im- 
menfe greatnefs of God, and our own littlenefs ; 
of his bleflings, and the obligations which they 
impofe upon us. It is fhameful for man to be 
inattentive to the wonders which furround him 
on all fides, and to be as infenfible to them as 
the brutes are. What employment can be more 
pleafing to the human mind than to contemplate 
in the heavens, the earth, the waters, the nighl, 
and day, in a word, throughout all nature, the 



WORKS OF NATURE. 13 

wifdom, power, and goodnefs of our Creator and 
Preferver ! What can be more delightful than 
to difcover in the whole creation, in all the nat- 
ural world, in every thing which we fee, traces of 
the providence and tender mercies of the Father 
of all beings ! There are no amufanents, no 
worldly joys, of which we are not Toon tired ; 
but thefe are pleafures ever new. 

Let us adore God in his wonderful works. 
Let us endeavor more and more to be acquaint- 
ed with him. Let us refleft on his greatnefs, 
admire his power, celebrate his wifdom, and 
rejoice in his goodnefs, difplayed in every feafon 
of the year, and diffufed through every part of 
creation. This employment will make us not 
only happy but virtuous ; for if we have God and 
his works continually in our fight, with what love 
and veneration fhall we not be penetrated ! with 
what confidence fhall we not refign ourfelves to 
him ! with what zeal and tranfport fhall we not 
fing his praife ! 



14 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



NATURE DISPLAYED. 



" To me be Nature's volume broad difplay'd ; 
s < And to perufe its all inflructive page, 
" Or haply catching infpiration thence, 
%i Some eafy paffage, raptur'd, to tranflate, 
« My fole delight." 

THOMPSON. 



Happy the man, whofe genius, rifing above the 
mere gratification of his fenfes, prompts him to 
inquire, with the affiftance of reafon, into the true 
caufe of things, and to pierce through the dark 
veil which conceals from mortals the myfteries of 
nature ! How infenfible are mankind ! They 
flop to obferve the courfe of a river. Supinely 
lying on the green turf, they contemplate 
the clear ftream murmuring as it flows. The 
coolnefs of the water, the enamelled field, the 
verdure of its banks •, every thing enchants their 
fight. But few know how to enjoy a ftill great- 
er pleafure, that of tracing the fource itfelf of 
thefe waters, the inexhauftible refervoir whence 
they proceed. Thus, we generally look only on 
the outfide of things. But let us go deeper ; 
let us dare to open a path into the recefies of 



WORKS OF NATURE. 1 5 

nature. How noble is It to refleft on the princi- 
ples of things, to contemplate their effence ! It is 
to this that the wife man foars ; all the reft is 
but the trifling amufement of the vulgar. It 
would be totally impoflible to reckon all the 
blefiings of nature, beftowed upon us ; but let 
us endeavor to comprehend in fome degree, how 
much we owe to our fovereign Benefadtor. For 
this purpofe, let us look into the places of our 
feveral enjoyments, an<j*fee what productions of 
the earth are there prefented to us. The flowers, 
which appear but a mere amufement, are lovely 
ornaments to our retreats, and by the fweets 
they exhale, and the beautiful colors with which 
they are adorned, charm and delight us. The 
orchards and kitchen gardens are not fo pleafing 
to the eye, but their utility compenfates for this : 
they produce fucceflions of excellent provisions 
for our tables during the whole year, much more 
wholefome than thofe invented by art to excite, 
or (more properly fpeaking) to corrupt, our tafte. 
Let us go a little farther ; let us quit the con- 
finement of towns and villages, to enjoy the fpa- 
cious fields where the induftry of man produces 
that ftafF of life, that bread which fupports the 
whole human fpecies. The earth faithfully re- 
gards the farmer's toil, and returns with incred- 

B2 



1 6 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

ible intereft all that is laid out upon it. Unim- 
paired by age, it conftantly refumes the charms 
of fpring, and the luxuriance of fummer ; and, 
after having produced the moft plentiful harvefty 
a winter's reft entirely repairs its loffes. 

Let us now enter into the woods. The light 
of day obfcured by the thick foliage of the ftately 
trees, the.pleafing coolnefs, the ftill filence that 
reigns through all, combine to give them a ftrik- 
ing air of folemnity an# grandeur. What hu- 
man induftry would be fufKcient to plant, to wa- 
ter, and to take care of thofe trees, fo indifpen- 
iible to us : for without them, where fhould we 
find fuel to prepare our food, and to protect us 
from perifhing with cold ! God alone creates 
and preferves thofe forefts, which are in fo many 
ways of ineftimable value to us. 

Let us now glance over our meadows and paft- 
ure. We behold them enamelled with flowers, 
and full of all forts of herbs, which not only 
ferve as pafture for animals, but many of them 
are delightful to us, and furnifh us with excel- 
lent medicines. 

How beautiful an object, how great an orna- 
ment to nature, is a river ! Whether we ftop to. 
refledr upon its motion and utility, or its origin 
and fnpplies. The beauty of its courfe charms 



WORKS OF NATURE- *7 

as, the multitude of bleffings it affords fills us 
with gratitude, and the obfcurity of its fourcc 
raifes our admiration. It is at firft but a little 
ftream trickling down a hill, and whi€h the 
fmalleft pebble is enough to divert from its courfe i 
But foon, the overflowing of lakes, the melting 
of fnow, the falling of floods, enlarge it. It 
makes itfelf a bed, and flows copioufly into it : 
it enriches the fifherman's hut, and the laborer's 
dwelling ; and, after having been the ornament 
and delight of the country, it flows with majefty 
towards the cities, where it conveys plenty, by 
means of the fhips it bears. « The river of God 
is full of water ;" thoufands of fprings burft from 
the bofom of the earth, and the vaft ocean em- 
bracing it, abforbs the whole. 

Irt the infide of our globe, as in a vaft maga- 
zine, are found laid up for our different occafions, 
falts of various forts, quarries, mines, ftones, met- 
als, &c. 

Laftly, the very air which we breathe is full of 
bleffings. fhe clouds which colleffc there pour 
upon us thefe fruitful rains, which " water our 
furrows, and make them foft, and which caufe 
the land to yield its fruits in their feafon." The 
fame air, befides giving free paflage to thofe winds 
which fweep aw;ay contagion, tranfmits alfo this. 



j$ CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

beneficial light and thefe falubrious rays which 
illumine, warm, and quicken all nature. 

Here let us paufe, and adore that beneficent, 
that almighty Hand, that only inexhauftible 
Source, that Ocean whence flow all our bleflings. 
And let us endeavor to deferve thofe that are 
eternal, which as much furpafs the prefent, as the 
heavens are beyond the earth, eternity beyond 
time, the Creator beyond the creature. 




WORKS OF NATURE. 1 9 

% 

MAGNIFICENCE OF GOD IN HIS FTORKS. 



" Thcfe are thy glorious -works, Parent of . 
u Almighty • thine this unrverlal frame, 

" Thus wondrous fair 

IUJ 



Why is there fiich fpleador in the works of 

Gcd ? Why is there inch 1 

we fee ? Why do we every wL 

numbcrlcfs objects, whi h more L 

tiful than the other, 

peculiar charms ? Why do we 

new caufe for wo [t is, 

doubtlcfs, that we may and 

adore the great Being, who is in£ 

beautiful, more fubliaie, aiid more 

than all which we admire moft in nam: 

that we may cor.; [fthe 

works be fo complete, what muftthl 

If fuch is the beauty of creatures, i t he 

the incxprcfiible beauty, the infinite up of 

him who beholds with one glance the whole ere- 

ation ? If the fun have a dazzling bl 

which our eye? cannot bear, ought we to be fur- 

prifed that he who lighted that globe dwells \\\ 



20 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

inacceflible light, where no eye has feen, or can 
fee him ? Let us, therefore, hereafter divide our 
attention between God and nature ; in order to 
confider in the latter, as in a glafs, the image of 
that Being whom we cannot contemplate face to 
face. Let us collect the many beauties and perfec- 
tions, which are fcattered over the vaft empire of 
the creation j and when their innumerable multi- 
tude ftrikes us with aftonifhment, we fhall fay to 
ourfelves that, compared with the perfections of 
their Creator, they are lefs than a drop in the 
ocean. Let us only confider what is amiable and 
beautiful in created beings, abftra&ing what is 
finite and limited, in order to form a more juft and 
proper idea of the excellence of the Ruler of the 
univerfe \ and, when the fight of their faults and 
imperfeftions fhall have leflened our admiration of 
their beauty, let us cry out -, If the creation be fo 
beautiful, notwithftanding its defeats, how great 
and worthy of admiration muft he be, whofe 
fplendor is fpotlefs, more pure than light, more 
brilliant than the fun ! 

" God has fhewn himfelf in the creation as a 
Being infinitely wife." There is no creature how- 
ever infignificant it may appear, that has not its 
ufe , and all of them are formed in the manner 
belt adapted to the purpofes of their exiftenee. 
This we know with certainty of thcfe with whiclji 



WORKS OF NATURE. 21 

we are acquainted, and we may conclude the 
fame of the reft by analogy. From the fun, 
down to the loweft worm, or fmalleft plant, we 
ihall every where find, that, for the purpofe de- 
figned by the Creator, nothing could be formed 
otherwife than it is. The moft minute parts of 
each are manifeftly adapted to its destination : 
They ferve for the functions prefcribed them ; 
and the whole creature would be defective, if any 
one of its parts were hurt or taken away. How 
wonderful is the whole which refults from the 
connection between all creatures in general ! 
Each is in its place ; each has its proper office, 
and none of thefe could fail without caufing an 
imperfection more or lefs in the whole. When, 
therefore, we reprefent to ourfelves the Being 
who formed this innumerable multitude of crea- 
tures animate and inanimate ; who has not only 
defigned each of them for certain pi^rpofes, but 
has difpofed and arranged every part of them in 
the manner beft adapted to thofe purpofes, fo 
that there is nothing Superfluous or wanting ; 
who has, from the connection between each in- 
dividual, formed an admirable whole, in which 
there exifts the moft perfect harmony ; muft we 
not be ftruck with aftonifhment, and cry out with 
refpeftful admiration, " O the. depth of the wif* 
dom and knowledge of God !" 



22 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

" In the creation God has fhewn himfelf a 
Being infinitely good." What multitudes of ani- 
mated creatures has his beneficent hand produc- 
ed ! Is not life invaluable to every thing that 
breathes ? Is it not a blefiing to the pooreft 
worm ? What pleafure does not God take in do- 
ing good, fince he has beftowed on fo many crea* 
tares the privilege of exiftence ! But of what ufe 
would their exiftence be, if they were to be im- 
mediately deprived of it ? The Creator has there-? 
fore ordained, that each fhould live as long as was 
necefTaryfor its deftination. He has appointed 
to each creature the place which it is to inhabit, 
and each finds on its entering the world every 
thing neceflfary for the prefervation of its life. 
How many enjoyments and pleafing fenfations 
does the Creator grant with life to all animated 
beings, and particularly to mankind ! With what 
magnificence has he not adorned and embellifhed 
the world which man was to inhabit ! What 
flveets does not focial life afford ! What tender 
ties, what warm affe&ions, what delightful fen- 
timents has he created for the heart to enjoy ! , 
Let us never be ungrateful to fuch a bountiful 
Creator ; and, fince we are endowed with reafon, 
and are capable of knowing and loving God/ let 



! 



WORKS OF NATURE. 23 



us acknowledge with tranfports of joy, that « the 
earth is full of his mercies." 

« In the creation God has {hewn himfelf as a 
Being of infinite power." This unlimited power, 
which is vifible in all creatures, is particularly fo 
in the two extremes, in the greateft and in the 
moft minute works of the univerfe. What but 
an almighty hand could form the firmament, that 
immenfe extent, that prodigious fpace, which 
contains fuch a number of celeftial bodies ? Who 
but he could preferve this immenfe fabric, fix it 
unfhaken, and yet keep up in it fo many differ- 
ent, though regular movements ? Who but he 
could raife the fun to fuch a height, appoint its 
fituation fo as not to deviate from it, and main- 
tain it ur^upported in that vaft expanfe ? Could 
any but an almighty power give motion to the 
' earth, the moon, and flars, fo as to run invariably 
the courfe prefcribed them, to finifh and begin 
again their revolutions at certain appointed peri- 
ods ? Or, if we confider the divine Omnipotence 
in the fmalleft objefls, we fhall find it there as 
incomprehenfible as in the largeft. We need 
"only caft our eyes on the duft under our feet. 
Even that is inhabited by an innumerable mul- 
titude of animals, fo fmall that feveral thoufands 
of them joined together would not be equal to a 



24 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

grain of fand. Yet each of thefe animals has 
its exterior and interior parts ; each has its fenfe 
and feeling, each has its inftinft, loves life, and 
endeavors to preferve it. Behold alfo the grafs 
of the field, the hairs of your head, the bloffoms 
of the trees, and ftudy their conftru&ion, their 
origin, and ufe. We fhall every where difcover 
wonders ; every where acknowledge the infinite 
power of him who forms celeftial globes with as 
much eafe as he creates a worm or caufes a flow- 
er to grow. 

How great and numerous are the works of 
God ! They are full of wifdom, and the earth is 
filled with bleflings. May thefe reflections excite 
in us the love, refpedt, and confidence, due to 
the wifeft, beft, and moft mighty of Beings ! 



WORKS OF NATURE. 25 



PLEASURES WHICH THE CONTEMPLATION OF 
NATURE PROCURES, 



" Where'er the pleafing fearch my thoughts purfue, 

" Unbounded goodnefs rifes to my view ; 

" Nor does our world alone its influence fhare ; 

" Exhauftlefs bounty and unwearied care 

" Extend through all th' infinity of fpace, 

'* And circle nature with a kind embrace." 

■ 

BLACKMORE. 



Nature offers to all her children, with mater- 
nal goodnefs, the firft, the moft innocent, the 
leaft expenfive, and moft univerfal of all pleaf- 
ures. 

It is almoft impoffible not to find charms in 
the contemplation of nature. And that it may 
be enjoyed without expenfe is manifeft •, the poor 
as well as the rich may indulge in it. But this is 
what leflens its value. We are fo foolifh as not 
to prize what others fhare with us 5 while, if we 
were reafonable, nothing iliould give more value 
to' a blefling than the thought that it makes the 
happinefs of our fellow creatures, as well as our 
own. Compared to this pleafure, fo noble and 
fo fenfible, how trifling and vain are thofe far 
fetched magnificent amufements which the rich 



26 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE I 

obtain with fo much trouble and expenfe, which 
leave a certain void in the foul, and always end 
in ennui and difguft ! Whereas nature, rich and 
beneficent, prefents us continually with new* 
obje&s. Pleafures which are only the work of 
our own imagination are of fhort duration, and 
vanifh like a dream, the charms and illufions of 
which are loft at the moment of waking. But 
the pleafures of reafon and of the heart, thofe 
which we enjoy in contemplating the works of 
God, are folid and lafting, becaufe they open to 
us an inexhauftible fource of new delights. The 
ftarry Iky, the earth enamelled with flowers, the 
melodious notes of the birds, "the various land- 
fcapes and profpedls one more delightful than 
another, may continually furnifh us with new 
fubjects of fatisfadtion and joy. If we be infenfi- 
ble to thefe it is certainly our own fault ; it is be- 
caufe we behold the works of nature with an in- 
attentive and indifferent eye. The duty of a ra- 
tional being confifts in enjoying innocently all 
that furrounds him. He knows how to draw 
refources from every thing, and* has the art of 
being happy under any circumftances* 



WORKS OF NATURE. 



ENJOYMENTS WHICH WE FIND IN NATURE. 



" Happy the man, who from the world efcap'd s 

" In ftill retreats and flowery folitudes, 

" To Nature's voice attends from month to month 3 

" And day to day through the revolving year ; 

u Admiring fees her in her every fhape ; 

" Feels all her fweet emotions at his heart ; 

" Takes what fhe liberal gives, nor thinks of more.* 9 

THOMPSON, 



On whatever part of the creation we turn our 
eyes we every where find fomething, which in- 
terefts either our fenfes, our imagination, or our 
reafon. All nature is fo formed as to afford us 
numberlefs pleafing objedts, and to fupply us 
with various enjoyments continually fucceeding 
each other. Our love of variety is conftantly 
excited and conftantly gratified. There is no 
part of the day that does not afford us pleafures 
both for our fenfes and our minds. While the 
fun illuminates the horizon, the plants, the ani- 
mals, with a thoufand agreeable objects, delight 
our eyes : and when the night fpreads its veil the 
majefty of the fky tranfports and charms us. On 
c 



28 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

every fide nature labors to furprife us with new 
pleafures. Even the fmalleft worm, a leaf, a 
grain of fand, prefent us with objefts of admira- 
tion. The fame fpring which waters the vallies, 
invites us to fleep, pleafes the ear, and ferves alfo 
to quench our thirft. The fhady foreft, which 
defends us from the intenfe heat of the fun, 
where we enjoy a delightful coolnefs, and where 
we hear the melody of various birds, feeds at the 
fame time a multitude of animals, which will 
themfelves ferve for food to us. Thofe trees, 
the blofibms of which were a few months ago, fo 
pleafing to the fight, will foon fupply us with 
delicious fruit ; and thofe meadows, now covered 
with waving corn, will foon yield us a plentiful 
harveft. Nature prefents no objefts to us that 
are not pleafing and ufeful in more than one re- 
fpeft. The merciful care^of Providence ordained 
that the color of green, the moft mild and plead- 
ing to the eye, fhould clothe and cover the earth. 
It was in itfelf agreeable to the fight, but variety 
might add charms to it. For this reafon we fee 
light and fhade fo happily diftributed, thofe dif- 
ferent degrees of color, and thofe various fhades 
of green.- Each fort of plant has its regular and 
peculiar color. Landfcapes covered with woods, 
hufhes, greens, herbs, and corn, afford a magnifi- 



WORKS OF NATURE. 1$ 

cent fcene of verdure, in which the tints are in- 
finitely varied, mixed, cut, or blended infenfibly, 
and yet are always in perfect harmony. Each 
month affords us different plants and flowers. 
Thofe that have ferved their purpofe are replaced 
by others ; and thus fucceffively prevent any 
void in the vegetable kingdom. But to whom 
do we owe thefe numerous and varied gifts ? 
Who is he that provides for our wants and pleas- 
ures with fuch goodnefs and munificence ? Go 
and afk it of all nature : the hills and the valleys 
will tell thee ; the earth points him out to our 
fight ; the fky is a mirror in which we may be- 
hold him ; the ftorms and tempefts proclaim 
him y the voice of thunder, the rainbow, the 
rain, and the fnow, declare his wifdom and good- 
nefs. The green fields, the meadows covered 
with gilded corn, the mountains crowned with 
forefts, raifing their heads to the very clouds, the 
trees laden with fruit, the gardens enamelled with 
flowers, the rofe in its full beauty, all bear the 
impreflion of his handy work. And all the nu- 
merous hoft of animals which people the air, the 
earth, and the fea, declare the glory of" the Al- 
mighty, and proclaim his exiftence. How un- 
I pardonable fhould we be, were we deaf to this 



JO CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

general voice of nature ! Oh ! let us, that are 
happy witnefles of thefe wonders, let us, in the 
prefence of all his creatures, pay him that horn- 
age of gratitude and adoration fo juftly due to 
him. Thofe rich lands, where our flocks graze, 
thofe forefts which afford us {hade and fuel, that 
Iky which is over us, and gives us light, every* 
thing invites to grateful joy. Let our fouls be 
filled with it. Let the fenfe of our happinefs, 
and of God's bleffings, attend us in our walks, 
and follow us into folitude. We fhall find that 
there is no fatisfaftion more heartfelt, more 
lafting, or more conformable to human nature, 
than the calm pleafures which the contemplation 
of the works of God affords. 






WORKS OF NATURE. 



31 



NATURE IS A LESSON FOR THE HEART. 



■ " Meditate the book 



** Of nature, ever open ; aiming thence 

" Warm from the heart, to learn the moral fon£ " 



THOMPSON, 



W,e gain, in every refpect, by ftudying nature -j 
and it may, with reafon, be called a school for 
the heart, fince it clearly inftructs us in our 
duty towards God, our neighbor and ourfelves. 

Can any thing infpire us with more profound 
veneration towards God, than the reflection that 
it is he who has not only formed our globe out of 
nothing, but whofe almighty hand alfo confines 
the fun within its orb, and the fea within its 
bounds ? Can we humble ourfelves too much 
before that Being who created the innumerable 
worlds which roll over our heads ? Muft we not 
ihudder at the very thought of offending that 
God, of whofe boundlefs power we every mo- 
ment fee proofs, and who with a fingle glance 
can deftroy or make us wretched ? 

But the contemplation of nature is highly cal- 
culated to fill us with love and gratitude towards 
its Author. All nature loudly proclaims this 

C 2 



32 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

comfortable truth, that God is love. It was love 
which induced him to create the world, and to 
communicate to other beings the felicity which 
he himfelf enjoys. Is there in reality a fingle 
creature, which does not furnifh proofs of thefe 
beneficent regards ? But particularly, if we re- 
flect on ourfelves, how many may we not find ? 
The Creator has endowed us with reafon, not 
only to enjoy his bleffings, but to acknowledge 
alfo the love with which he honors us, and 
which enhances infinitely the value of his favors. 
Ought not fo many blefiings daily enjoyed to 
excite our moft grateful acknowledgments and 
win our moft conftant obedience ? And when 
we refleft on the- admirable order which reigns 
throughout all nature, ought it not to produce 
the beft difpofitions in our minds ? If we are 
convinced that nothing can be pleafing to God, 
which is contrary to order and regularity, fhould 
we not conform to it ? How unpardonable to 
oppofe, by our irregularities, the merciful defigns 
of Providence in our favor ? 

It is thus that nature becomes an excellent 
leffbn for the heart. If we liften to it, we fhall 
learn the true wifdpm which leads to happinefs. 



WORKS OF NATURE, 33 



MEDITATION ON THE JPORKS OF NATURE. 



" Fair are the fcenes of nature, rich its ftores, 
" Indulgent fpread for man : but man is mortal. 
" Then let him ftretch his views to other worlds, 
" Where blifs immortal waits the virtuous foul." 



-T ather of the univerfe ! preferver of all that 
breathe ! how great is thy majefty, and how 
many wonders thou fheweft unto man ! It is thy 
hand which has ftretched out the heavens, and 
fet them thick with ftars. Now, I behold the 
fun, fhining in all its fplendor, to reanimate na- 
ture. To-morrow, perhaps, it will be no more 
for me that the birds make the woods, the fields, 
and the vallies refound with their melodious 
notes. I feel that I am mortal ; my life fades 
away like the grafs of the field : it withers as a 
leaf fallen from the branch where it grew. When 
the grave fhall have fwallowed me up, when 
darknefs and filenee come upon me ; what will 
then remain of my earthly pofleflions ? Will not 
all be loft to me, though even all my wifhes had 
been gratified, and I had here enjoyed unmixed 
happinefs ? O how fenfelefs fhould I be, were I 
to attach myfelf to the tranfitory bleflings of 



34 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

this world ! If I afpired to great riches, if I was 
ambitious of empty honors, and if allowing my- 
felf to be dazzled by vain fplendor, envy and 
pride fhould take pofleflion of my heart ; if too 
eager in my wifhes, I have purfued what I ought 
not to afpire to, I humble myfelf before thee, 
OGod. 

When, in the morn, on the green turf covered 
with dew, every thing prefents me a* cheerful 
profpeft, and the wings of the night have cooled 
the burning heat of fummer, wifdom cries out to 
me, O mortal ! why doft thou harbor cares ? 
Why yielded thou thyfeif to anxiety ? Is not 
God thy Father ? Art not thou his child ? Will 
not he who made thee, take care of his own 
work ? The plan of thy exiftence is not limited 
to this earth, it embraces heaven. Life is but a 
moment ; and the longeft earthly felicity is but 
a pleafing dream. O man ! thy deftination is 
immortality. The thought of immortality raifes 
us above the earth, „the univerfe, and time. It 
fhall awaken my heart, when feduced by falfe 
pleafuresj I am inclined to quit the path of vir- 
tue. The rofes which crown the head of the 
wicked foon fade. His fhameful enjoyments 
diflionor him, and repentance fucceeds them. * I 
am but a fojourner upon earth, and none but im- 
mortal joys deferve purfuit. 



WORKS OF NATURE. 35 



HYMN OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE WORKS OF THE 
CREATOR. 



a Nature's replenifh'd theatre furvey — 

" Then, all on fire, the Author's fkill adore, 

" And in loud fongs extol creating power !" 

BLACKMO&E, 



10 thee, O Lord ! from whom proceedeth every 
bleffing, and who difpenfeft them fo bountifully, 
to thee belong glory, honor, and thankfgiving. 
Thou heareft the cries of the young raven, and 
takeft pleafure in the fong of the lark 5 vouchfafe 
to liften alfo to my voice, and accept the trib- 
ute of praife due to thee. The leaft of the 
creatures formed by thy hand proclaims thy wif- 
dom. The traces of thy goodnefs and power arc 
feen from one end of the year to the other, 
and are continually renewing. With parental 
tendernefs thou provideft for our neceffities, and 
giveft to men and animal! their proper food. It 
. is in the hgpe of thy bleffing, that the farmer 
fows his corn : it is thou who makeft the feed 
fruitful. Thou watereft the furrows of the fields. 
Thou clotheft the meadows, the valley, and the 






36 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

plain with flowers, and herbage, with trees and 
groves. Thou ordereft the cool and refrefhing 
dew to moiften our gardens and fields, and to 
filed on them fertility and abundance. The bar- 
ren and dry foil thou watereft with gentle rains. 
The cold and wet places thou warmeft with the 
rays of the fun. The weather and the feafons 
thou ordereft in wifdom, and in the manner moft 
beneficial to mankind. Thou covereft our fields 
with rich harvefts, and the wings of the wind 
fupport the waving corn. Thou adorneft the 
tops of barren rocks with grapes. Thou drefleft 
our pafture with clover ; and by thy command, 
the fountains and ftreams give drink to the 
thirfty animals. Thou caufeft the tree to take 
root, and it profpers. A quickening fap circu- 
lates through its trunk, and gives it force to 
branch out with leaves and blofibms ; while the 
abundance of fruit, under which the boughs 
bend, proves the pleafure which thou haft in 
doing good. We, therefore, glorify thee, our 
Creator, our Benefaftor ! we blefs thy holy name ! 
All thy works are great, and good, and wonder* 
fill. We rejoice in thy goodnefs. ^ 



WORKS OF NATURE. 37 



GOD S UNIVERSAL CARE OF HIS CREATURES. 



" The holy power that clothes the fenfelefs earth 
" With woods, with fruits, with flowers, and verdant grafs t 

■ Whofe bounteous hands feed the whole brute creation, 

■ Knows all our wants, and has enough to give us.'* 

Rowe's Fair Penitent. 



Every creature that lives in the air, in the wa- 
ter, or upon the earth, has its part in the care of 
a divine Providence, to which it owes its prefer- 
vation. Animals void of reafon are endowed 
with organs, ftrength, and fagacity, fuitable to 
their feveral deftinations. Inftinft warns them of 
what might be hurtful or dangerous ; and en- 
ables them to feek, to diftinguifh, and to prepare 
the food ar>d habitation proper for them. All 
this is absolutely involuntary. It is not the re- 
fult of refleftion. They are irrefiftibly led on 
by a pr*openiity, which a fuperior Power has 
given them for the prefervation of their animal 
life. They find the food, and the retreats con- 
venient for them •, and no fpecies of animals is 
deftitute of what is neceflary for its welfare and 
fuftenance. Men are of a more excellent na-. 



3$ CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

ture ; but they are born in a more helplefs ftate ^ 
and they require, beyond comparifon, more af- 
fiftanee than moft other animals ; their wants, 
their faculties, their defires are more numerous 
and great ; they are therefore diftinguifhed by 
greater bleffings, and more marked attentions of 
Providence. The earth, the air, and the water, 
the clouds, and the light of the celeftial globes, 
contribute more abundantly, and in a more \ T a^ 
ried manner, towards their prefervation. God 
has placed the irrational creatures under their 
command, in order to make them ferve for their 
fupport and convenience. What particularly 
deferves our attention is, that every part of our 
globe which is inhabited, furnifhes fufficient 
food for the creatures that live upon it. Admir-? 
able effects of divine Providence ! not only the 
fertile bofom of the earth, but alfo the vaft plains 
of the air, and the depths of the fea, abound 
with food proper for the maintenance of the in- 
numerable multitude of animals, that live and 
move in thofe elements. The treafures of di- 
vine goodnefs are* inexhauftible ! 

The world does not decay. The fun returns 
with its accuftomed light and heat : The fertil- 
ity of the earth never diminifhes : The feafons 
fucceed regularly, and the earth never fails to 
pay its annual tribute of proviilqn for the prefer- 






WORKS OF NATURE, 39 

vation and fupport of its innumerable inhab- 
itants. Whether we confider the continuance 
of the profufion, or the variety of the means of 
fuftenance, which nature every where provides, 
we perceive throughout, the traces of a benef- 
icent and univerfal Providence. All things that 
furround us, and ferve to fuftain and procure us 
the fweets and pleafures of life, are fo many vifible 
means, fo many channels through which our in- 
viiible Benefaftor continually difpenfes his favors. 
The agents of nature are the minifters which ful- 
fil the defigns of his Providence. The world is 
his magazine, and we take out of it all that is 
neceffary for ufe. It is to his goodnefs, it is to 
his tender mercies that we are indebted for it. 

u Father of all beings, how extenfive are thy 
mercies, how great, how inexpreffible ! In thee 
we live, move, and have our being ; and thou 
fuftaineft all things by thy mighty word ! The 
lot of mortals is in thy hand : they are only 
happy through thee. Thou art their fovereign 
good ; and thy paternal cares are over all man- 
kind. It is by thy command that the zephyr 
cools and refrefhes us, that the rofe embalms the 
air with its perfume, that the moft delicious 
fruits pleafe our palates, that the dew of heaven 
revives us. Thou proportioneft thy gifts to the 



40 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

wants of thy creatures i Thou makefl: the right- 
eous to feel the fweet and falutary effe&s of thy 
grace ! Thou giveft to the bee its nedtar in the 
flowers ; to the worm a drop to quench its 
thirfl: ; to the world the rays of the fun. O 
thou who poffefleft fovereign felicity, and doft not 
difdain to communicate happinefs to the poorefl: 
infeft, which could not exift a moment but by 
thy will ; permit me to raife to thee a new hymn, 
and deign to accept my weak lays ! Penetrated 
with joy and gratitude I will ling to thy name, 
magnify thy goodnefs, and. pay thee due adora- 
tion, praife, and glory/' 




WORKS OF NATURE* 4 1 



DAILY PROOFS OF GOD S GOODNESS, 

" Almighty caufe ! 'tis thy preferring care 
" That keeps thy works forever frefh and fair : 
" Thy watchful Providence o'er all intends ; 
" Thy works obey their great Creator's ends." 

BOYSE. 

Not to acknowledge the hand of Providence, 
but in extraordinary cafes, is to betray our igno- 
rance and weaknefs. In the ordinary courfe of 
nature things occur daily, which ought to excite 
cur attention and admiration. The formation of 
a child is as great a miracle of the power and wif- 
dom of God, as the creation of the firft man 
formed out of the duft. Likewife the preferva- 
tion of our life, if we reflect on the feveral caufes 
and effe&s which combine for that purpofe, is no 
lefs wonderful than the refurrefton of the dead, 
The only difference between them is, that one 
happens but feldom, whilft we every day witnefs 
the other. This is the reafon that it does not 
ftrike us more fenfibly, or raife our admiration 
as it would otherwife do. 

Undoubtedly my own experience ought to 
convince me fully that a divine Providence 
watches over the prefervation of my days. I am 
not certain of a fingle moment of my life ; a 
thoufand unknown and latent caufes may haften 



42 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

the end of it, chill my blood, or flop my breath. 
Subject to fo many evils, to fo many wants both 
mental and corporal, I am thoroughly convinced 
that, were it not for the tender mercies of God, 
I fhould be a very wretched creature. The un- 
ion of my body and foul, their reciprocal and 
continual adtion on each other are inconceivable, 
and depend neither on my will nor power. The 
beating of my pulfe, the circulation of the fluids 
within me, goes on without interruption, and 
without my being able to contribute to it in the 
fmalleft degree. Every thing convinces me that 
my faculties, my ftate, the duration of my exift- 
ence do not depend on my will. If my breath 
be not yet flopped ; if my blood ftill circulate ; 
if my limbs have not yet loft their activity ; if 
the organs of my fenfes have preferved their play ; 
if in this inftant I have the faculty of thinking 
and the ufe of my reafon ; it is to God alone 
that I am indebted for it. But why do I reflect 
fo feldom, and with fo little gratitude on the 
daily ways of Providence ? Ought not the re- 
flections which now offer themfelves to have 
been always imprinted on my heart ? Ought I 
not, at leaft, every morning and evening of my 
life to meditate on the benefits of my Creator ; 
to admire and blefs him for them ? Divine pre- 
ferver of my life ! I regard thy providence, and 
confide in thy mercy j make me happy in day 
favor ! 



WORKS OF NATURE* 43 



REASONS FOR CONFIDENCE IN GOD. 

■ ■■ - ■ '■ ■ ' ~ 

" O He is good, He is immenfely good, 
" Who all things form'd, and form'd them all for man : 
" Who mark'd the climates, varied every zdne, 
" Bifpenfing all his bleflings for the beft, 
" In order and in beauty !" # 

SMART. 



"VV^hen I reflect on the infinite perfections 
which are manifefted in the plan of the univerfe, 
and on the manner in which God conducts and 
governs it, my confidence in him muft neceflarily 
be more and more increafed and ftrengthened. 
How eafy ought I to be in regard to my fate, 
fince it is in the hands of that great Being, of 
whofe power, wifdom, and goodnefs I have as 
many proofs as there are creatures before me ? 
What wifhes could I form for my happinefs, 
which might not be fulfilled by that God whofe 
unlimited power has been able to raife out of 
nothing fo many millions of worlds ? Are 
there any troubles, forrows, or difficulties, from 
which I may not be happily delivered by that in- 
finite wifdom which has fpread the heavens, and 
formed every creature in fo wonderful a manner ? 



I 



44 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

What can hinder me from committing my way 
unto the Lord ? What can prevent me from 
having recourfe to him in all my troubles and 
diftrefles, and from hoping that he will hear my 
prayer.? It is true that I am but a very weak 
creature ; I ani loft in the vaft multitude of his 
works ; and, when 1 reprefent to myfelf his 
greatneis, and the infinite extent of his gov- 
ernment, I often fay to myjTelf : Who am I that 
dare to hope that this great Being will always 
liften to me, and that he will deign to caft his 
eyes on me, every time that I may have recourfe 
to him ? But, on the other hand, I comfort my- 
felf, when I confider that his greatnefs, his maj- 
efty, and the government of fo many millions of 
worlds, do not hinder him from extending his 
cares for the fmalleft worm. Why then may he 
not give fome attention to me, who, though fo in- 
significant, have received from him, both as a man, 
and as a Chriftian, prerogatives much fuperior 
to thofe of other creatures? Here my confcience 
flops me, and reproaches me with being a finner, 
with having a thoufand and a thoufand times, 
wilfully tranfgrefled the commands of my Crea- 
tor and Maker ; and, that therefore I am more 
unworthy of his goodnefs than the moft abjeft 
of his creatures, My confcience reprefents the 



WORKS OF NATURE. 45 

juftice of God to me in as ftrong colors as the 
whole univerfe paints to me his power and good- 
nefs. But it is here that the falutary truths of 
the gofpel come to my affiftance. It is only 
through our Redeemer that I can look up to this 
God, whofe greatnefs all the world proclaims ; 
that I can, I fay, look up to him as a father, put 
my truft in him, and hope that he will grant me 
happinefs, not only in this life, but to all eternity. 




46 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



SEASONS FOR CONTENT. 



-" Nature's ikilful hand, 



" Drefl up with fun and fhade, and lawns and tfreain% 
" A manfion fair and fpacious for its gueft, 
« And full replete with wonders. Let me here, 
" Content and grateful, ripen for the fkies. 

MR*. barbAulb. 



Let fweet content take pofleffion of our fouls* 
God is good. Love and mercy fhine through 
all his works. Let us contemplate his mighty 
deeds. The world, and all it contains, evidence 
his beneficence and wifdom. The heavens &nd 
the earth witnefs his power. The fun that rules 
by day, and the moon that fhines by night, 
all things that have life or motion proclaim 
the mighty God. Confider the works of his 
hands. Men and brutes ; even the objefts that 
appear leaft in our eyes, the. blade of grafs, and 
the grain of fand, teach us to know him. Oh ! 
how fhall we worthily praife and exalt him, to 
whom we owe exiftence and life ? Our bodies, 
and the fouls which animate them, are gifts of 
his hands. If we are a prey to adverfity, if op- 



WORKS OF NATURE. 47 

preffed with forrows, fcarce do we feel the weight 
of them, when God enables us to fupport them. 
He grants us his afliftance, and our evils are ban- 
ifhed. O my foul thou haft long experienced 
this ! Let me never forget it, nor give way to 
the fear of being deferted by a God, who can- 
not hate his children. Let us therefore fubmit 
to his holy will. Let us blefs him for all his dif- 
penfations ; perfuaded that he will accomplifh all 
his merciful defigns 5 for he is great in wifdom, 
and abundant in means* 




©2 



48 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



REFLECTIONS ON THE ANIMAL CREATION. 



" Who taught the nations of the field and wood 
" To fhun their poifon and to choofe their food ? 
" Prefcient the tides, or tempefts to withftand, 
" Build on the wave, or arch beneath the fand ? 

" God, in the nature of each being founds 

" Its proper blifs, and fets its proper bounds." 

POPE. 



Vv e may confider the animal kingdom as a 
well governed ftate, in which there are a proper 
number of inhabitants, each in the place* appoint- 
ed for it. In this animal kingdom, the little 
and the weak which compofe the greatefc part of 
it, are. Subject to the Strong and the powerful ; 
but the whole are Subject to man, as to the repre- 
sentative of the Deity. Animals find, in every 
part of the earth, enough to employ them, and 
enough to feed on. They are accordingly dif- 
perfed every where $ and their nature, their or- 
gans, their feveral constitutions, are all adapted 
to the different Situations deiigned them. Their 
employments differ greatly. All tend either to 
increafe their fpecies, to maintain an equal bal- 
ance between the animal and the vegetable king- 
dom, to provide proper food, or to defend them- 
felves againft their enemies. The Creator has 



WOR&S OF NATURE, 49 

given them an inftinct to compenfate for the 
want of reafon. An inftinct varied in a thou- 
fand ways, and according to their feveral wants ; 
an inftindl for motion, for food, to enable them 
to diftinguifh it with certainty, to find it out, to 
feize upon it, and to prepare it ; inftinft to build 
nefts and pi;oper habitations, to lay in provisions, 
to transform themfelves ; inftincl: for the increafe 
of their kind ; inftin£l to defend and fecure them- 
felves, &c. In each clafs of animals there are 
fome which live on prey, and individuals which 
fuperabound in other clafles. Each fpecies has 
its particular enemies, which keep up the proper 
balance, and prevent any from multiplying too 
much. The lick animals, or thofe that have 
any defect, are generally the firft which ferve as 
food for others. The fruit and the carcafles 
which corrupt are eaten up, the earth is not in- 
commoded by them, nor the air infected. Thus 
nature preferves its beauty, frefhnefs and purity. 
The beafts of prey have a make conformable to 
their deftination. They are endowed either 
with peculiar ftrength, agility, induftry, or ad- 
drefs. But in order to prevent them from de- 
ftroying whole fpecies, they are confined within 
certain limits. They do not multiply fo faft as 
other animals, and they often mutually deilroy 



50 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

each other, or their young ferve as food for oth- 
er creatures. Some fleep during winter, digeft 
flowly, and feed on the productions of the earth 
for want of other food. The weaker animals are 
provided with defence in proportion to their fit- 
uation, and the dangers to which they are ex- 
pofed. Their natural arms, their fwiftnefs, their 
habitations, their fcales or fhells, their cunning, 
preferve them from deftru£tion ; and by thefe 
means the proper balance is always kept up, as 
to the number in every fpecies of the brute cre- 
ation. 

n 

The animals which give milk are the largeft, 
and confequently the leaft numerous, but they 
fulfil very important offices. The fmalleft ani- 
mals are the moft numerous, and, in proportion, 
more voracious than the larger. 

All we behold fo admirable in the animal 
kingdom proves the exiftence of a Being who 
poffefTes the higheft degree of wifdom and 
knowledge. Who but he could have peopled 
this immenfe globe with fo many different fpecies 
of living creatures, providing for them every 
thing neceffary ? Who but he could give food 
to fuch infinite multitude of creatures according 
to their different taftes, and find them covering, 
and habitations •, and give them whatever they 



WORKS OF NATURE, 5 1 

require to guard and defend them* which they 
effecl with fo much addrefs and fagacity, fo 
many inftincts and fuch induftry ? Who but he 
could have kept up the equal balance between fo 
many different fpecies and clafles of animals ? 
Who but he could appoint for each living crea- 
ture the element fuited to it ? or fornr that 
amazing number of limbs, joints, bones, mufcles, 
and nerves joined together, and placed with fo 
much art, harmony and perfection, that each 
animal can perform its feveral motions, in the 
manner moft convenient and beft adapted to its 
way of life, and the different fituations in which 
it is placed ? 

O Lord God Almighty ! it is thou only who 
couldft do fuch things, and to thee bejongeth all 
glory, praife and thankfgivirig. 



5 £ CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



THE SPHERICAL FORM OF THE EARTH* 



*' The form orbicular of earth he prov'd, 
* : How in the ambient air 'twas poiz'd and movM* 
*< How day and night alternate hence appear, 
" And varying feafons grace the rolling fphere.'* 



People generally fuppofe the earth an even 
plain, a round flat furface •, but if that were the 
cafe, the exterior limits of this furface would be 
found out ; and in approaching, any place, it 
would be impoffible to fee the tops of towers 
and mountains before the lower parts of them. 
The earth then muft be a globe ; but it is not 
exactly and ftri&ly fpherical, for it is a little 
more raifed at the equator and flatter towards 
the two poles, nearly refembling an orange. 
But that deviation from a fpherical form is very 
inconiiderable, at moft only thirty-four miles, 
which is fcarceiy perceptible in a globe, whofe 
circumference is £bout twenty-five thoufand 
-riles, and diameter fe^/en thoufand nine hundred 
and twenty-eight. There will be no doubt of 
the figure of the earth being nearly fpherical, if 
Ave confider that, in the eclipfes of the moon, 
the fhadow which the earth cafts on that planet 



WORKS OF NATURE. 53 

is always round. Befides, if the earth were not 
round, how could they have failed round it, or 
how mould the ftars rife and fet fooner in the 
eaftern than in the weftern countries ? Here* 
again, is the wifdom of the Creator manifeft. 
The form which he has given to the earth is the 
moft proper and convenient for a world like 
ours, and for its inhabitants. Light and heat, 
fo neceffary for the prefervation of creatures, are, 
by this mean, equally and uniformly diftributed 
over the whole earth. From thence, alfo, pro- 
ceed the returns of night and day, heat and 
cold, wet and dry, fo conftant and regular. The 
water, in the firft place, is equally, diftributed o~ 
ver the globe, and the falutary ufe of the winds is 
felt over every part of the earth. We Ihould be 
deprived of all thofe advantages if our earth had 
any other form. In fome countries it would be 
a paradife, in oth.ers a chaps j one part of it 
would be fwallowed up in water, the other burnt 
up with the heat of the fun. In certain coun- 
tries they would be expofed to furious tempefts, 
w T hich would deftroy every thing, whilft they 
would be ftifled in other places by the want of air, 
the current of which would be nearly flopped. 
One part of the earth would enjoy the benign 



54 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

influence of the fun, whilft the other would 
be frozen with cold. What pride and ignorance 
fhould we not betray, if we did not acknowledge 
in this the hand of an almighty and beneficent 
Creator ? Should we deferve to inhabit a world, 
where all is fo wifely ordained, if, like tjie brutas, 
we were infenfible to this admirable plan, and to 
the numberlefs bleflings which accrue from it ? 
No, my God and my Creator, let us never be 
guilty of fuch monftrous ingratitude. Filled 
with aftonifhment and admiration at the fight of 
thy works, we adore thy wifdom. 



WORKS Of NATURE* 55 



UTILITY OF MOUNTAINS. 



* See how fublime the uplifted mountains rife, 
"And with their pointed heads invade the fkieSi 
" How the high cliffs their craggy arms extend, 
" t)iftinguifh States and fever'd Realms defend : 
K From intercepted clouds colled: the rain — 
K And furmifh fprings and rivers for the plain." 

SLACKMOkE. 



Vv ould it not be more advantageous to our 
globe, if its fitrface were not fo uneven, and if it 
were not disfigured by fo many mountains ? We 
fometimes think that the form of the earth 
would be much more regular, that Cur fight 
would extend farther, that we flxould travel 
more conveniently, and enjoy many other advan- 
tages, if the earth were only one vaft plain.' 
but, perhaps, we are miftaken in this opinion, 
Let us then inquire into it, and reflect on the 
ufe of mountains, in, order to fee if there be any 
reafon to be difcontented with the prefent ar- 
rangement of our globe, 



56 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

In the firft place, it is evident that it is from 
the mountains and hills that the fprings flow, 
which are produced either by heavy fnows, or by 
the clouds with which thofe heights are often 
covered. They keep up the courfes of great and 
fmall rivers. Thofe chains of high mountains 
which extend from eaft to weft, and which tra- 
verfe a great tract of country, ferve to prevent 
the difperfion of vapors, and to condenfe them 
into water. They are as fo many ftills, which 
prepare and render the water fweet, for the ufe 
of man and beaft. Their declivity gives a mod- 
erate fall to the fprings, which, flowing thence* 
water and fertilize the vallies. 

Befides this ineftimable advantage of fprings 
and fountains which the mountains procure us, 
they have many others. They ferve for dwell- 
ings and afford fubfiftance to feveral kinds of 
animals which are ufeful to us. On the fides of 
mountains there grow trees, plants, and an in- 
numerable quantity of falutary herbs and roots, 
which are not cultivated with equal fuccefs in 
the plains, or have not the fame virtues. It is 
in the bowels of the mountains that metals and 
minerals are formed. 

Mountains are, in a manner, the bulwarks of 
nature, to flicker countries againft the fury of 



WORKS OF NATURE. 57 

feas and florins •, and, like ramparts and natural 
fortifications, they protect feveral ftates from the 
invafion of enemies, and the ambition of con- 
querors. They perhaps preferve the balance of 
our globe. It is true that fome of thefe mount- 
ains are dangerous and formidable. They occafion 
many ihocks and earthquakes •, and the volcanoes 
ipread flames and deftruclion all around. But 
, though there fhould be feme inconveniences from 
them, yet thefe cannot furnifh ally reafonable ob- 
jection againft the wifdom and! goodnefs of God 
in their formation ; fince the bleffings which we 
derive from them are greatly fuperior to the evils 
which they occafion. In this refpecl, then, we 
have no reafon to complain of the contrivance 
of our globe. If there were no mountains wc 
fhould be deprived of feveral forts of ft ones and 
foffils. There would be no rivers, no firings, 
no lakes. We fhould want a great number of 
the fineft and moft falutary plants, and feveral 
forts of animals. The privation of one fingle 
thing in nature might be fufficient to mate our 
lives fad and miferable. Let us therefore con- 
clude that mountains, as well as every other part 
of nature, prove the wifdom, power, and good- 
txefe of the Creator. 



58 CONTEMPLATIONS ON TH£ 



UTILITY OF RAIN. 



* The fhadowing clouds difKll the genial rain 
" Whofe copious waters cheer the thirfty plain." 



In the trueft fenfe of the word rain deferves to 
be called a prefent from heaven. The bleffings 
which our heavenly Father pours upon us by 
this mean are equally abundant and necefTary for 
us. As the confequences of a continued drought 
would be fatal to us, fo the advantages are equally 
precious which the refreshing mowers afford. 

The lieat of the fun acts without interruption 
on the different bodies on the earth, and contin- 
ually exhales thin particles from ft, which fill 
the atmofphere in the form of vapors. We 
fhoulcl breathe thofe dangerous exhalations with 
the air, if now and then they were not carried 
off by the rain, which precipitates them upon 
the earth, arid thus clears and purifies the air. It 
is not lefs ufeful in moderating the burning heat 
of the atmofphere ; and the reafon is very evi- 
dent ; for the nearer the air is to the earth, the 



WORKS OF NATURE. 59 

more it is warmed by the reflection of the fun's 
rays ; and the farther it is from us the colder it 
is. The rain that falls from a higher region, 
brings to the lower a refrefhing coolnefs, of 
which we always feel the agreeable effects when 
it has rained. It is alfo to the rain that we muft 
partly impute the origin of fountains, wells, 
lakes, and rivers. Every body knows in what 
abundance we are fupplied with thofe feveral 
fources of water in the wet and rainy feafons ; 
whereas they evaporate during a long drought. 
But to feel how ufeful and neceflary rain is, we 
need only obferve how the earth and vegetables 
languifti for want of thefe fruitful fhowers, with- 
out which every thing would perifh. Rain is 
in many refpecls the food of vegetables. It cir- 
culates in the finer veins, and in the vefTels of 
plants and trees, and conveys to them thofe ben- 
eficial juices which preferve their life and give 
them growth. When it pours on mountains, it 
fweeps from them a foft rich earth, which it de- 
posits in the vallies where it falls, and which it 
fertilizes. 

God has planned all \^ith wifdom, and the 
earth is full of his goodnefs. Such is, withbut 
doubt, the conclufion that we muft all draw from 
thefe reflections. And if from thefe we be led 

E 



60 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

to adore and blefs him, let us purfue the fubjeft, 
that it may make a deeper impreffion on our 
minds. 

What finer objeft can be prefented to our 
fight than a clear and ferene Iky ! Is not that 
beautiful vault extended over us fufRcient to fill 
every heart with admiration and delight ? But 
all the beauties of the Iky would difappear, if, by 
the dire&ion of the winds, the clouds fhould 
come and draw a thick curtain before us. What 
are the fentiments which fuch a revolution would 
create in us ? Thefe are at leaft what it ought to 
infpire : However beautiful this fcene which 
we contemplate with fuch delight, there are 
fome incomparably greater, of which no cloud 
can deprive us, and which would make us 
ample amends for the lofs of all others. For 
what are all the beauties of nature compared to 
the beauty of that great Being, in whofe con- 
templation alone an immortal fpirit can find fe- 
licity ! It is not without defign that God fome- 
times deprives us for a while of thofe things 
which give us moft pleafure. He then teaches 
us to feek our happinefs in him, and to confider 
him as our fovereign ^good. Befides, are not 
thofe very privations often compenfated by many 
outward advantages ? Thofe clouds which con- 






WORKS OF NATURE, 6 1 

ceal from us the beauty of the iky, are the 
fources of beneficent rains, which render the 
earth fruitful. Let us remember this ; and every 
time that adverfity makes our days gloomy and 
melancholy, let us be perfuaded that even thefe 
misfortunes will become, in the hands of our 
heavenly Father, inftruments of future happinefs. 
Let us alfo confider rain as the image of the gifts 
of fortune : For beneficial as moderate rains may 
be they are equally hurtful if they laft too long> 
or come unfeafonably. So it is in refpeft to 
earthly goods, too great abundance of which 
might be the caufe of our deftruftion. Let us 
therefore thank our heavenly Father for refilling 
us gifts, which we might afterwards find to be 
real punilhments. Let us learn to be content 
with all the difpenfations of a wife and gracious 
Providence in the government of the world. 
God only can know the manner in which his 
bleffings can beft be bellowed. He fendeth 
forth his commandments to the clouds, and they 
3y to execute the will of their Creator. Shall 
nan dare to undertake to direct their courfe, 
:hoiigh perhaps the leaft confiderable part in the 
Drdinance of the world ? How then can we be 
*afh enough to blame the ways of Providence on 
ntich more important occasions ? 



6t CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



UTILITY OF RISERS. 



" See how'the ftreams advancing to the main 

" Through crooked channels draw their cryftal train. 

" While ling'ringthus, they in meanders glide, 

" They fcatter verdant life on either fide." 

BLACKMORE. 



VV hen we calculate the fpace which the rivers 
take up in our globe, we find that they deprive us 
of a great part of the continent. Some are difcon- 
tent at this, and fuppofe that it would be better if 
there had been fewer rivers, and more land. But 
if they would only confider, with what wifdom, 
and in what due proportion the Creator has 
planned every thing upon our globe, they would 
conclude, that rivers have not been fpread over 
the earth without good reafon, and effential util- 
ity to men and other creatures. 

It muft be obferved, in the firft place, that the 
water of rivers affords a very wholefome drink to 
man. Spring or pump water, when it has been 
long and without motion under ground, loofens 
and infenfibly carries away with it fome particles 
of earth which might prove hurtful to the body ; 



WORKS OF NATURE. 63 

but river water, which is continually evaporating 
and always in motion, is purified from all dirt, 
and by that means becomes the moft falubrious 
drink for men or beafts. 

However, the utility of rivers extends ftill far- 
ther. Is it not to them that we owe the cleanli- 
nefs, the wholefomenefs, and comfort of our 
houfes, as well as the fertility of our fields ? Our 
habitations are always unhealthy, when they are 
furrounded by ftagnant water, and by marfhes, 
or when the want of water occafions a drought. 
The fmalleft rivulet cools the air around it, and 
makes it extremely agreeable ; and what an 
aftonifhing difference between a country well 
watered, and one to which nature has denied 
this affiftance ! One is a barren dry defert ; the 
other on the contrary, is in fome fort a garden 
of delights, where woods and vallies, meadows 
and fields, prefent a thoufand beauties, and the 
moft pleafing variety. 

How ufeful are they to commerce ! Of how 
many machines and mills fhould we be deprived, 
if they were not put in motion by rivers ! How 
many kinds of delicate fifh we fhould want, if 
they did not furnifh us with abundance of them ! 

But, it will be faid, if there were no rivers, we 
fhould efcape thofe inundations which do fo 
E 2 



64 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

much mifchief. But is this inconvenience fuffi- 
<;ient to prevent rivers from being a bleffing of 
Providence ? Do not the numberlefs advantages 
which accrue from them much exceed the harm 
which they fometimes occafion ? Inundations 
feldom happen, and they extend over very little 
country. Befides, thofe very inundations, en- 
rich and fertilize the ground ; and, to an atten- 
tive obferver, they are a proof that God blefles 
with one hand, whilft he appears to chaften with 
the other. Thus, then, the rivers ought to con-* 
vince us of that divine goodnefs which is over all 
the earth* 




WORKS QF NATURE. 65 



OF THE CCEAN. 



" The Sea does next demand our view, and there 

" No lefs the marks of perfect fkill appear, 

« c What, but a confcious agent, could provide 

" The fpacious hollow where the waves relide ? 

" Where barr'd with rock, and fenc'd with hills, the deep 

" Does in its womb the floating treafures keep ; 

" And all the raging regiments reftrain 

" In ftated limits, that the fwelling main 

" May not in triumph o'er the frontier ride, 

" And through the land licentious fpread its tide." 

BLACKMOREs 



The Ocean is that general collection of waters 
.which furrounds the whole earth. 

The chief things obfervable of it are its vaft~ 
nefsy which is fo conflderable as to cover nearly 
two thirds of the furface of the globe \ its depth ; 
its faltnefs ; and its tides* 

Its depth is not equal. In fome places naviga- 
tors can find no bottom with a line of more than 
feven hundred and eighty fathom.* 

* The Compiler is happy in knowing that the fubjedt of 
the deepnefs of the ocean has employed the invefligation of 
the Hon. James Winthrop, Efq. of Cambridge ; from 
whom the public may expecl: fome ingenious, learned, and 
philofophic difquifitioris upon this and other particulars in 
jPhyfics which have difcouraged or baffled former inquirers. 




66 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

The ocean is fait in all parts of the world : but 
the degree of faltnefs differs much in different cli- 
mates, and is greateft in the equatorial regions, 
where the heat of the fun is greateft, and confe- 
quently the evaporation of the water greateft. 
In the procefs of evaporation the faline particles 
are left behind, and hence the degree of faltnefs is 
Increafed. 

The caufe of the faltnefs of the ocean has been 
a fubjeft of inquiry among philofophers in almoft 
all ages, but it ftill remains undetermined. 

As no accurate obfervations on the degree of 
faltnefs in particular latitudes were mack till the 
prefent century, it is not poflible to afcertain what 
was the ftate of the fea at any confiderable dis- 
tance of time, nor confequently whether its de- 
gree of faltnefs increafes, decreafes or is ftation- 
ary. 

For this property there appears an exceedingly 
wife and good reafon. Frefh water muft be in 
continual and quick motion to keep it from putri- 
fying and ftinking ; but the channels of the 
ocean are fo large as render them incapable of a 
fwift current ; fo that it can have no more mo- 
tion than is given it by the winds, the reciproca- 
tion of the tides, and the revolution of the earth 
about its own axis. To compenfate this want of 



WORKS OF NATURE. 67 

motion, therefore, the water is made fait, which 
produces the fame effect as motion would do, 
and is Operated from it when it is exhaled into 
vapors. 

Of the ebb and flood of the ocean a more par- 
ticular account will be given in the next article. 

As the earth is full of the divine riches fo is 
this great and wide fea. It is not an ufelefs 
wafte of waters, as fome may ignorantly imag- 
ine. It is the grand refervoir whence the fun 
exhales the vapors, to lay them up in clouds as 
in (lore houfes, to defcend again in fhowers or 
fprinkling dews, to refrelh the thirfty earth and 
nourifh vegetation. 

Again ; it is owing to the vaftnefs of the 
ocean that the feveral countries all over the face 
of the earth are fo well fupplied with ftreams 
and rivers. And we may obferve that inftead of 
being a means of feparation between diftant coun- 
tries, it is indeed the centre of commerce for all 
nations. For, whereas people could not go by 
land from one end of the world to the other 
without infinite fatigue, and numberlefs dangers ; 
by croffing the ocean in fhips, the old world 
holds connection with the new, and they mutu- 
ally fupply each other with the comforts and 
conveniences of life. 



68 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

* * Hail thou inexhauftible fource of wonder 
and contemplation ! Hail, thou multitudinous 
ocean ! whofe waves chafe one another down 
like the generations of .men, and, after a mo- 
mentary fpace, are immerged forever in obliv- 
ion ! Thy fluctuating waters warn the varied 
fhores of the world, and while they disjoin na- 
tions whom a nearer connection would involvt 
in eternal war, they circulate their arts and 
their labors, and give heakh and plenty to man- 
kind. 

« How glorious, how awful are the fcenes 
thou difplayeft ! Whether we view thee when 
every wind is hufhed, when the morning filvers 
the level line of the horizon, or when its even- 
ing tract is marked with flaming gold, and thy 
unrippled bofom reflects the radiance of the 
overarching heavens ! or whether we behold thee 
in thy terrors ; when the black tempeft fweeps 
thy fwelling billows, and the boiling furge mixes 
with the clouds ; when death rides the ftorm, 
and humanity drops a fruitlefs tear for the toil- 
ing mariner whofe heart is finking with difmay ! 
" And yet, mighty deep ! it is thy furface 
alone we view. Who can penetrate the fecrets 

" This elegant apoftrophe is taken from Keats's Jketcbts 
of Nature, 






WORKS OF NATURE. 69 

of thy wide domain ? What eye can vifit thy 
immenfe rocks and caverns, that teem with life 
and vegetation ? Or fearch out the myriads of 
obje&s, whofe beauties lie fcattered over thy 
dread abyfs ? 

« The mind ftaggers with the immenfity of 
its own conceptions : and, when it contemplates 
the flux and reflux of thy tides, which from the 
beginning of the world were never known to 
err, how does it flirink at the idea of that divine 
power which originally laid thy foundations fo 
fure, and whofe omnipotent voice hath fixed the 
limits where thy proud waves fhall be flayed l" 



7© CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



ON THE TIDFS. 



u So the moon charms her wat'ry world below, 

" Wakes the ftiU feas, and makes them ebb and flow.'* 

LEE. 

« To agitate and work the troubled deep, 

* £ And rolling waters from corruption keep ; 
a But not impel them o'er their bounds of fand, 
* Nor force the wafleful deluge o'er the land." 

BLACKLOCK. 



The greateft part of the furface of the earth is 
covered with water, which is called the fea ; 
and that immenfe collection is very diftincl: from 
lakes and rivers. Thefe contain more or lefs 
water, according to the different feafons ; where- 
as in the fea the quantity of water is almoft 
always the fame •, btit we obferve the fea increafe 
and decreafe twice every day, according to cer- 
tain rules. When it comes to a certain height 
in a port it foon begins to decreafe : This de- 
creafe continues for fix hours, and the fea is then 
at the lowefk ebb. At the end of fix hours it 
begins again to rife, and this increafe lafts alfo 



I WORKS OF NATURE* 7 1 

• 

fix hours ; at the end of which the fea has again 
attained its greateft height. Then it finks again 
for fix hours, to fwell again for the fame time 5 
fo that in the fpace of twenty four hours the fea 
twice rifes and falls, and is alternately at the 
greateft and leaft height. This regular and 
alternate motion of the fea, which rifes towards 
the Ihore and withdraws again, is called flux and 
reflux. 

When the fea fwells and rifes towards the 
coafts it is called the flux ; and the return of 
the water towards the main is called the reflux. 
It is a remarkable circumftance that the tide is 
regulated according to the courfe of the moon. 
The tide is greater and rifes higher towards the 
time of the new and full moon, and is lower dur- 
ing the quarters. The motion of it is alfo much 
more confiderable in Spring and Autumn than in 
*he other feafons. On the contrary, the tides are 
much weaker during the folftices. This phe- 
nomenon is particularly obfervable in the ocean, 
where the water fills a great fpace ; but is much 
lefs fo in limited feas, fuch as the Mediterranean. 
Finally, the interval between the flux and reflux 
is not exactly fix hours ; it is .eleven minutes 
more ; fo that thefe revolutions do not happen 
the next day, .at the fame moment, but three 



72 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

quarters of an hour later. They do not return, 
at the fame hour, till the end of thirty days, 
which is the time from one new moon to anoth- 
er. What may be concluded on with certainty, 
from this conftant and regular phenomenon, is 
that the flux and reflux have fome connection 
lyith the motions of the moon* 

It is always a pardonable ignorance not to be 
able to explain perfectly the laws and the courfe 
of nature ; but it is an inexcufable want of atten- 
tion and gratitude not to reflect on the happy 
effect which thofe laws, and thofe great phenom* 
ena, have upon our earth, or to forget what we 
ewe to the beneficent Father of Nature. One 
great advantage which we have from this perpet- 
ual waving of the waters, is to prevent it from 
ftagnating or corrupting by lying ftill. It is true 
that the wind alfo contributes to it, but, as there 
is often a perfect calm in the water, there might 
rcfult from it a putrefaction in the bafon of the 
fea, which is the refervoir for all the waters of 
the earth to flow into. God has therefore or- 
dered the flux and reflux to prevent hurtful 
things fettling there. The motion of the water 
riling and falling attenuates and feparates the 
corrupted particles, and by mixing and difperf- 
ing the fait, of which the fea is full, and which 



WORKS OF NATURE. 73 

would otherwife fink quickly to the bottom, 
preferve the purity of the whole body of water. 
The phenomena of the tides have been well 
inveftigated and fatisfactorily explained by Sir 
Ifaac Newton and Dr. Halley, from the recipro- 
cal gravitations of the earth, moon, and fun. 
As the earth and moon move round a centre of 
motion near the earth's furface, at the fame time 
that they are proceeding in their annual orbit 
round the fun, it follows that the water on the 
fide of the earth neareft this centre of motion 
between the earth and moon will be more at- 
tracted by the moon, and the waters on the oppo- 
fite fide of the earth will be lefs attracted by the 
moon, than the central parts of the earth. Add 
to this that the centrifugal force of the water 
on the fide of the earth fartheft from the centre 
of the motion, round which the earth and moon 
| move (which as was faid before, is near the fur- 
face of the earth) is greater than on the oppo- 
fite fide of the earth. From both thefe caufes 
it is eafy to comprehend that the water will rife 
on two fides of the earth, viz. on that neareft to 
the moon, and its oppofite fide, and that it will 
be 'flattened in confequence at the quadratures ; 
and thus produce two tides in every lunar day, 



!■ 



74 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

which confifts of about twenty four hours and 
forty eight minutes. 

Thefe tides will alfo be affefted by the folar at- 
tradtion when it coincides with the lunar one, 
or oppofes it, as at new and full moon ; and will 
alfo be much influenced by the oppofing fhores 
in every part of the earth. 

When the fun and moon are in the fyzygies, # 
or in oppofition and conjunction, at the time of 
the equinoxes, we have the higheft tides of all, 
becaufe then the fun is in the plane x>f the equa- 
tor, and the moon the fame or very nearly fo. 
But, as the earth is nearer to the fun in winter 
than in fummer, thefe tides happen rather before 
the vernal equinox, and after the autumnal. 

Let us now coniider who has adjufted the mo- 
tions of that unruly element with fo much ex- 
actnefs and proportion ? A little more motion 
in the vaft flood would drown whole kingdoms. 
Muft it not then be a fkilful, a divine hand, that 
lias fet to the fea its unmoveable boundary, 
which it has kept through a feries of fo many 
ages, and faid to its proud waves, hitherto pall you 
e.Qme y and no farther P 

* Thefe are the points of the Moon's orbit in which flic 
is at Hew and/////. 



AVOkKS OF NATURE. 75 

Thefe reflexions may alfo naturally remind 
us of a circumftance, which is much conne&ed 
with this phenomenon : Our life is but a flux 
and reflux. It increafes and decreafes : Every 
thing is inconftant, and liable to change. Noth- 
ing is durable. There is no permanent joy, 
hope, or happinefs. We fwim in a rapid and in- 
conftant river : Let us then take care not to be 
drawn into the abyfs ; and let us endeavor to 
gain the happy port, the fmiling*and cheerful 
Ihores. On the other hand, let us blefs God 
that our evils and anxieties are of fhort dura- 
tion. An exceflive and lafting grief or pain is 
as little compatible with our nature as a conftant 
and perfeft happinefs, Thefe changes are cer- 
tainly an advantage to us. If we enjoyed, 
through the whole courfe of our lives, an unin- 
terrupted tide of felicity, we might eafily grow 
proud, and forget God. As, on the other hand, 
a continual train of difgraces and misfortunes 
would link us entirely, and harden our hearts. 
Let us then blefs our heavenly Father for his 
wife decrees ; and endeavor to conduct ourfelves 
through life, in profperity or adverfity, in a 
manner worthy of our faith, and the hope of ev- 
eriafting life. 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



EARTHQUAKES. 



?i Know then, within this globe*s capacious womb 
ee Are veins of living fire — imprifon'd air — 
" Sulphureous flreams with flrong bitumen mix'd ; 
hk Thefe meeting and fermenting, next explode ; 
" All wild and rapid, through the laboring earth, 
" They pour reiiftlefs ; burfl the folkl clifS, 
" And, through the yawning void that whelms at once 
" The tumbling city, mount and melt in air." 

6 GIL VIE. 



Our earth iuffers two kinds of fhocks ; one is 
occafioned by the attion of fubterraneous fires, 
and by the explolion of volcanos. Thefe com- 
motions' are felt only at fmall diftances, and only 
when the volcanos work before the entire erup- 
tion. As foon as the matter which forms the 
fubterraneous fires comes to ferment and blaze, 
the fire makes an effort on all fides * and if it do 
not naturally find a vent, it raifes the earth and 
makes itfelf a paflage by throwing it up with vi- 
olence. But this fort of earthquakes extends 
only for the fpace of a few miles. They fhake 
the earth like the explofion of a magazine of 
powder, which produces a fhock, and a fcnfible 



WORKS OF NATURE. 77 

commotion at feveral leagues diftance. But 
there is another fort of earthquakes, very differ- 
ent in the effect, and perhaps in the caufe alfo. 
I mean thofe terrible ones which are felt at great 
diftances, and which fhake a long track of 
ground, without any new volcano, or any erup- 
tion appearing. There are inftances of earth- 
quakes which have been felt at the fame time in 
England, France and Germany. Thofe extend 
much more in length than in breadth. They 
ihake a chain or zone of land, with more or lefs 
violence in different parts, and are generally at- 
tended with a hollow noife like a heavy carriage 
rolling with rapidity. 

The following obfervations may explain the 
caufes of this fort of earthquakes : All inflam- 
mable matter fufceptible of explofion, produces 
(as powder does) a great quantity of air, or elaftic 
fluid. The air produced by fire is fo very much 
rarified that it muft caufe very violent effects, 
when it has been long fhut up and comprefled in 
the bowels of the earth* Suppofe then that at 
a very confiderable depth, there fhould be com- 
buftible matter which fhould take fire by fome 
means \ it muft of courfe feek a vent •, and if it 
find none it occafions the moft violent fhocks, 
It is impoflible to exprefs how fatally dreadful 



7 8 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THS 

this fort of earthquakes is. Of all the defec- 
tions, of all the cataftrophes upon earth, there 
are none To formidable, fo deftrucuve, and which 
fo much baffle all human forefight and pru- 
dence, as'thefe earthquakes. When rivers over- 
flow their banks, and fweep away whole villages, 
there is ftill fome refource ; it is poffible to ef- 
cape upon mountains, or to the upper part of 
houfes : whereas the calamity of which we fpeak 
extends itfelf with an irrefiftible power over a 
whole country, and fwallows up whole kingdoms 
and people, without leaving the fmalleft trace 
behind. 

Lord God Almighty, who can ftand before 
thee, when thou difplayeft thy power ! The 
earth trembles at thy prefence. The foundations 
of the mountains are fhaken. The hills are 
moved. Thy anger fpreads like fire, and the 
rocks are fplit afunder before thee. Who would 
not fear thee, O Ruler of the earth ! 

Laftly, let us be convinced that every thing 
frightful or terrible in nature, all the apparent 
evil, all the imperfections of the world, have a 
wife intent. Great and Almighty Being, I will 
therefore adore and blefs thy name, even when 
thou fendeft thy plagues, and fcattereft terror 
and defolation on the earth, I will do more* I 



WORKS OF NATURE. 



19 



will reft with fure confidence upon thy fatherly 
care. Though even the world fhould be de- 
stroyed, though the mountains fhould fall and 
fink into the fea, thou fhouldft flill be my fup- 
port, my ftrength, and my refuge. 




X 2 



80 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



SUNXISE. 

" Yonder comes the pow'rful king of day^ 
a Rejoicing in the eaft. The lefTening cloud, 
" The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow 
" Illum'd with fluid gold, his near approach 
" Betoken glad." 

THOMPSON, 



Have you ever been a witnefs ofthefuperb 
phenomenon which the rifing fun each day af- 
fords ? Or has idlenefs, the love of fleep, or a 
faulty indifference, prevented you from contem- 
plating this wonder of nature ? Perhaps you may 
be ranked amongft the multitude of people who 
never thought a fight of the Aurora worth the 
facrifice of fome hours fleep. Perhaps you are 
like many others, who, fatisfied with the light 
of the fun, do not trouble themfelves with in- 
quiring into the caufe of this great effeft. Or 
laftly, perhaps you are as infenfible as millions of 
your fellow creatures, who have it in their power 
to behold this glorious objedt every day, fee it 
without being ftruck with it, or without its raif- 
ing any idea or pleafing reflection in their minds. 
It matters little in which of thefe you rank, 
Suffer yourfelf only to be now at laft roufed from 
this ftate of infenfibility, and learn what thoughts 
the fight of the morning fun ought to excite ir* 



WORKS OF NATURE. 8 1 

your foul. There is no phenomenon in nature 
more beautiful and fplendid. The richeft drefs 
that human art can invent, the fineft decorations, 
the moft pompous equipage, the moft fuperb or- 
naments in the palaces of kings, vanifti and fink 
to nothing when compared to this beauty of na- 
ture. At firft, it is the eaftern region of the 
fky which is clothed in the purple of Aurora, 
and announces the fun's approach. The air by 
degrees takes the bloom of a rofe, and then 
fhines with the luftre of gold. Afterwards the 
•rays of the fun pierce through the mift, and 
with them light and heat are fpread over the 
whole horizon. At laft the fun appears in all 
the fplendor of majefty. It rifes viiibiy higher 
and higher, and the earth affumes a different af~ 
pe£l. Every creatiire rejoices, and feems to re- 
ceive a new life. The birds, with fongs of joy, 
falute the fource of light and day. Every ani- 
mal begins to move ; and all feel themfelves ani- 
mated with new ftrength and fpirits. 

Blefs the Lord, O my foul ! Let my fongs of 
praife alfo reach to the heavens where dwells the 
Almighty, by whofe command the fun rifes, and 
whofe hand' fo guides its daily and its annual 
courfe as to produce the happy revolution of day 
and night and the regular fucceffion of the fea- 
fons ! Raife thyfelf to the Father of lights, and 
proclaim his majefty ! 






82 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



THE RAINBOW. 



. « RefracSled from yon eaftern cloud, 

" Beftriding earth, the grand ethereal bow 
" Shoots iip immenfe ; and every \mc unfolds* 
*' In fair proportion running from the red 
" To where the violet fades into the fky ." 

THOMPSON^ 



When the fun reflects its rays on drops of 
water which fall from the clouds, and we are 
placed with our backs to the fun, and with the 
clouds oppofite to us, we obferve a rainbow. 
We may confider the drops of rain as little tranf- 
parent balls, on which the rays fall, and are 
twice refrafted or broken, and once reflected. 
Hence proceed the colors in the rainbow. They 
are {even in number, and in the following order : 
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and 
violet. Thefe colors appear fo much the more 
lively, as the cloud behind is darker, and the 
drops of rain fall the clofer. The drops falling 
continually produce a new rainbow every mo- 
ment, and, as each fpe&ator has his particular 
fituation whence he obferves this phenomenon^ 



WORKS OF NATURE, 8j 

it fo happens, that two men cannot, properly 
fpeaking, fee the fame rainbow. This meteor 
can laft only fo long as the drops of rain that 
fall are continually replaced by others. To con- 
fider a rainbow merely as a phenomenon of na*« 
ture, it is one of the Sneft lights imaginable. It 
is a picture the moft beautifully colored of any 
which the Creator has expofed to our fight. 
But when we reflect that God has made this 
meteor a fign of his pardon, and of the covenant 
which he vouchfafed to make with mankind, we 
find fubjecl for more than one edifying reflec- 
tion. Again ; I have the rain pouring down 
before me, and the fun fhining behind me. 
Such is the image of my life ! a mixture of for- 
rows and of joys ; now clouded with adverfity, 
and now brightened with profperity; and through 
whofe tears of affliction faith can difcem, the Jigti 
ofpeace) of brighter fcenes the promife ! 



84 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



USE AND NECESSITY OF AIR. 



v Remark the Air's tranfparent element, 

" Its curious ftru&ure, and its vaft extent ! 

Ci Its wonderous web proclaims the loom divine, 

* c Its threads, the hand that drew them out fo fine* 

" Its open mefhes let terreftrial fleams 

" Pafs through, entic'd away by folar beams ; 

" And thus a road reciprocal difplay 

" To riling vapors and defcending day. 

" This thin, this foft contexture of the air 

iS Shows the wife Author's providential care, 

" Who did the filmy ftru6hire fo contrive 

" That it might life to breathing creatures give ; 

a Might re-infpire, and make the circling mafs 

" Through all its winding channels fit to pafs," 

BLACKMORE. 



i\iR is that fubtile and elaftic fluid which per- 
vades and furrounds all our globe. Without 
recapitulating the innumerable benefits derived 
from it in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, 
in the arts of life, and in the texture and cohe- 
fion even of inanimate bodies ; we fhall obferve, 
in general, that it is effentially neceflary to the 
exiftence of every animal and vegetable. Not 
only men, quadrupeds, birds, fifties, reptiles, and 
the larger infefts, but even fleas, mites, and the 



WORKS OF NATURE. 8$ 

minute eels found in pafte or in vinegar, and the 
animalcules produced by infufing animal or veg- 
etable fubftances in water, inevitably perifh when 
deprived of this all vivifying element. 

Even plants are furniflied with numerous air 
veflels, or refpiratory organs. They abforb and 
tranfmit air through every pore : and this ele- 
ment is fo neceflary to their exiftence that they 
do not vegetate in an exhaufted receiver. 

In fhort, air is of ufe to the life and breathing 
of all animated beings ; to the vegetation of 
plants ; to the motion of winged animals ; to 
the formation of vapors, rain, and winds ; to 
the railing and difperfing of thofe noxious efflu- 
via which exhale from different bodies ; to the 
propagation and conveyance of founds, and to 
give us the fenfe of hearing. Without air we 
could not be able to converfe with each other, 
we fhould have no mufic, no finell, no light. 

Farther : to the air is owing the refraction of 
the light, whence we derive the twilight, which 
in fome meafure fupplies the place of the fun : 
and the gradual foftening of the fplendors of day 
into the darknefs of night : a moft wife and kind 
provifion of the author of nature ; for an imme- 
diate tranfition from bright light to total dark- 
nefs would be extremely painful and injurious to 
pur eyes, 



■ 



§6 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

And, laftly, to the air we owe the winds, 
which are nothing elfe but air in motion, and 
are of fuch abfblute neceflity to the falubrity of 
the atmofphere, that, without the agitations they 
occafion we fhould be poifoned with noxious ex- 
halations, experience fhowing how unfit corrupt 
and ftagnated air is for refpiratiofi. 

As the air we continually breathe is an uni- 
verfal menftrum, and of courfe liable to be im- 
pregnated with exhalations from every fubftance 
to which it has accels, th#great importance of 
perfonal as well as of domeftic cleanlinefs is an 
obvious reflection. In building towns or houfes, 
the fituation, with regard to air, is a capital ob- 
ject. The vicinity of marfhes ; of ftagnating 
waters ; of manufactures of tallow, oil, &c. of 
butchers' flails ; and of many other work houfes 
where filth is generated and air contaminated, 
fhould be avoided or removed ; as they are the 
pefts of our fenfes and the fickeners of our con- 
futations* 

How grateful fhould we be to him who hath 
provided this fine elaflic fluid as breath for all 
that live, and made it contribute to many of the 
ufes and comforts of life ! 

Let all that have breath praife the name of 
the Lord } 



W0&KS OF NATURE. 87 



REFLECTIONS ON WOODS AND FORESTS* 



u Shade above fliade, a woody theatre. — 

" How many are the trees of god that grow 

" With leaves to heal us, and with fruit to feed V' 

MILTON, 



1 he woods form one of the nobleft pictures 
which the furfece of the earth prefents to our 
eyes. It is true, that at firft fight, it is a wild 
m fort of beauty. One only fees thickets of trees, 
and a dull folitude. But to a well informed ob- 
ferver, who thinks every thing beautiful that is 
good and ufeful, there will appear a thoufand 
objects in them worthy attention. Nothing in- 
vites us more to reflect on the grandeur and. 
beauty of nature than a folitary wood. The 
fleafingjhade andfilence, we enjoy, lead us to col- 
lect our thoughts, and awaken the imagination, 
The number and variety 6f the trees are the firft 
objects which attract our eyes. They are lefs 
diftinguifhed by their difference of height than 
by their different Jlems, forms, and leaves. The 
refinous pine does not excel in the beauty of its 
leaves, which are narrow and pointed 3 but they 
laft a long time, like the fir, and they prefervg 



88 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

their verdure in winter. The foliage of the lin* 
den tree, the afh, and the beech, is much more 
beautiful and varied : their green is admirable ; 
It relieves and charms the fight. The broad in* 
dented leaves of fome of thefe trees form a fine 
contrail with the narrow fibrous leaves of others. 
We have but an imperfect knowledge of their 
manner of multiplying, and the ufe of their fruit. 

How numberlefs the ways in which wood is 
ufefiil ? The flow growing oak, the leaves of 
which are later than any Other tree, affords the 
hardeft and ftrongeft wood ; which art has 
taught the carpenter, joiner, and carver, to work 
into a variety of ufeful forms, fo durable as to 
feem to defy time. Lighter wood ferves for 
other purpofes ; and, as it is in more plenty, and 
grow# quicker, it is alfo of more general ufe. It 
is to the foreft trees we owe our houfes, ihips, 
and fuel, with many conveniences for furniture. 

Divine wifdom has difperled woods and forefts 
in more or lefs abundance all over the earth. 
In fome countries they are at great distances ; 
in others they take up feveral leagues, and raife 
their majeftic heads to the clouds. The fcarcity 
of wood in certain countries is compenfated by 
its abundance in others. Neither the conftant 
ufe made of it fo lavifhly by mankind, nor the 



WORKS OF NATURE. „ gp 

fravages of accidental fires, nor fevere winters, 
have yet exhaufted thefe rich gifts of nature ; for 
even a few fcattered trees, and humble copfe, 
produce a foreft in the fhort fpace of twenty 
years. 

Is not the power and goodnefs of God vifihle 
in all this ? How fuperior is his wifdom ! If we 
had affifted at the creation, poffibly we fhould 
have made many objections to woods and forefts y 
we might have preferred orchards and fertile 
fields. But the infinitely wife Being forefaw the 
feveral wants of his creatures in their different 
fkuations. He vouchfafed to think of us before 
we could feel our wants, or were able to exprefs 
them. He anticipated all of them. It is not left 
to the care of man to plant or keep up forefts. 
Moft other things are obtained only by labor. 
The ground muft be ploughed and feeds muft be 
fown. It cofts the farmer much trouble and 
toil. But God has referved to himfelf the trees 
of the forefts. It is he who plants and preferves 
them. They grow and multiply independent of 
our care. They repair their lofles continually by 
new fhoots, and there is always enough to fupply 
our wants. To be convinced of this, we need 
only caft our eye on the feed of the linden tree, 
the maple, and elm. From thefe little .feeds 



pO CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

fpring up thofe vaft bodies which raife their 
heads to the very clouds. It is thou Almighty ! 
that fixeft and maintaineft them during ages 
againft the force of winds and tempefts. It is 
thou that ferideft dew and rain fiifficient to make 
them annually renew their verdure, and in fome 
meafure to keep up a kind of immortality 
amongft them. 

O man ! thou art loaded with bleffings. Lift 
itp thine eyes towards the great Being who takes 
pleafure in doing thee good ! The forefts are 
nronuments of his bounty, and thou muft be 
guilty of the greateft ingratitude, if thou art in- 
fenfible to a bleffing of which every moment 
may remind theef. 



WORKS OF NATURE. 9 1 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE STARRY HEAVENS. 



" Ye fhining hofts 

" That navigate a fea that knows no ftorms 

" Beneath a vault unfullied with a cloud ; 

** Ye from your lofty elevation view, 

" Diftinctly fcenes inviiible to man, 

" And fyftems, of whofe birth no tidings yet 

« Have reach'd this nether world." 

COWPER, 



i he Iky at night prefents to us a fight of won- 
ders, which muft raife the aftonifhment of every 
attentive obferver. But whence comes it that fo 
few confider the firmament with attention ? I 
am willing to believe that, in general, it proceeds 
from ignorance \ for it is i^npoffible to be con- 
vinced of the greatnefs of the works of God 
without feeling a rapture almoft heavenly. 

Raife your thoughts towards the Iky. And 
let me inform you that each ftar which from 
hence appears to us no larger than a brilliant 
fet in a ring, is in reality an immenfe body, 
which equals the fun both in fize and fplendor ; 
and is probably not only a world, but alfo the 
centre, of a planetary fyftem. It is in this light 
that we muft confider the ftars, which ihine 

G 



92 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

over our heads in a winter night. They are: 
diftinguifhed from the planets by their brillian- 
cy, and becaufe they never change their places in 
the Iky. According to their apparent fize they 
are divided into fix clafles, which comprehend 
altogether about five thoufand ftars vifible to the 
naked eye. Telefcopes have opened to us new 
points in the creation, fince by their affiftance 
millions of ftars are difcovered. But it would 
be a very fenfelefs pride in man to try to fix the 
limits of the univerfe by thofe of his telefcope. 
If we refleft on the diftance between the fix- 
ed ftars and our earth, we fhall have new caufe 
to admire the greatnefs of the creation. Our 
fenfes alone make us already know that the 
ftars muft be farther from us than the planets.' 
Their apparent littlenefs only proceeds from 
their diftance from* the earth, which diftance 
cannot be meafured. What then muft the ftars 
be ? Their prodigious diftance and their bright- 
nefs tell us, they are funs which reflect as far as 
to us, not a borrowed light, but their own light ; 
funs, which the Creator has fowed by millions in 
the immeafurable fpace ; and each of which is 
accompanied by feveral terreftrial globes, which 
it is defigned to illuminate. All the ftars being 
fo many funs, which can give light, animation, 



WORKS OF NATURE. 93 

and heat to other globes, is it probable that God 
fhould have given therp that faculty for no pur- 
pofe ? Would he have created ftars, whofe rays 
can pierce even to the earth, without having 
produced worlds alfo to enjoy their benign influ- 
ence ? God, who hath peopled this earth, which, 
is a mere fpeck, with fo many living creatures, 
would he have placed in the immenfe fpace fo 
many defert globes ? No certainly : Perhaps 
each of thefe fixed ftars, which we fee by miriads, 
has its worlds moving round it, for which it has 
been created. Perhaps thefe fpheres which we 
fee above us, ferve as abodes for different forts 
of creatures ; and are peopled like our earth, 
with inhabitants who admire and praife the 
magnificence of the works of God. Perhaps 
from all thefe globes, as well as from ours, there 
rife continually towards the Creator prayer and 
hymns of praife and thankfgiving. It is true 
that thefe are only probable conjectures % yet to 
every true lover of God thefe conjectures muft 
be moft agreeable and moft delightful. How 
fublime is this thought, that, exclufive of the 
fmall number of rational creatures which inhab- 
it this globe, there are infinite numbers of them 
in thofe worlds which appear from hence to be 
but mere luminous fpecks ! Beyond this wt>rld 



94 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

there is an immenfity, in comparifon of which 
our globe, large as it is, muft be reckoned as 
nothing. Souls without number exift there- 
All of them magnify the name of our great 
Creator ; all are as happy as their deftination ad- 
mits ; and perhaps afpire to a better world. 

Let us ftop here then, and reflect how great 
muft be that Being who has created thofe im- 
menfe globes ! who has regulated their courffc, 
and whofe mighty hand direfts and fupports 
them ! And what is the clod of earth which we 
inhabit, with the magnificent fcene which it pre- 
fents us, in comparifon with the beauty of the 
firmament ? If this earth were annihilated, its 
abfence would be no more obferved than that of 
a grain of fand from the fea more. "What are 
provinces and kingdoms in comparifon with thofe 
worlds ? Nothing but atoms, which play in the 
air, and are {ccn in the funbeams. And what 
am I, when I reckon myfelf among this infinite 
number of God's creatures ? How am I loft in 
my own nothingnefs ! But however little I appear 
in this, how great do I find myfelf in other re- 
fpects ! « How beautiful this ftarry firmament, 
which God has chofen for his throne ! "What is 
more admirable than the celeftial bodies ! Their 
fplendor dazzles me ; their beauty enchants 



WORKS OF NATURE. 95 

me. However, all beautiful as it is, and rich- 
ly adorned, yet is this fky void of intelli- 
gence. It knows not its own beauty ; whilft I, 
mere clay, which God has mpulded with his 
hands, am endowed with fenfe and reafon," I 
can contemplate the beauty of thofe fhining orbs. 
Still more, I am already, to a certain degree, ac- 
quainted with their fublime Author ; and I 
partly fee fome rays of his glory. I will endeav- 
or to be more and more acquainted with his 
works, and make it my employment, till by a 
glorious change I rife above the ftarry regions. 



G2 



9<S CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



SENTIMENTS WHICH THE CONTEMPLATION OF 
THE SKY EXCITES. 



u The fpacious firmament on high, 
" With all the blue ethereal fky, 
" Spangled with flars, a fhining frame, 
" Their great original proclaim.*' 

ADDISON, 



Who but a fpirit of unlimited intelligence and 
power, could have formed that fuperb vault over 
our heads ? Who could have given motion to 
thofe immenfe globes ; that perpetual motion of 
inexpreffible rapidity ; a motion which even the 
fmalleft grain of fand could not have of itfelf ? 
Whence proceeds that connection, that beauty, 
and harmony, which fhine through every part of 
the whole ? Who prefcribed to thofe immenfe 
bodies, thofe laws which could not be difcovered 
but by minds endowed with the greateft fagac- 
ity ? Self exifting, independent, and eternal 
Being ! it is to thee the celeftial bodies owe their 
exiftence, their laws, their arrangement, their 
power, and all the advantages which they pro- 
cure to the earth. 



WORK* OF NATURE. 97 

What fublime ideas muft rife in our fouls, 
when we think of thefe great obje&s ! If the 
heavens and all their hoft have fo much mag- 
nificence, beauty, and majefty, that the eye can 
never be fatisfied with contemplating, nor the 
mind with admiring them, what muft be thy 
beauty thou eternal being, of whofe fplendor 
and glory thefe creatures are but faint and im- 
perfect images ! What muft be the incomprehen- 
fible extent of thy knowledge and underftanding, 
fince thou feeft with one glance the whole im- 
menfe fpace, all the numberlefs bodies m it, and 
art fo intimately acquainted with the nature and 
properties of all the beings which thou haft 
placed there ? What depths of wifdom and 
knowledge muft be in thee, O Lord ! who haft 
formed fuch admirable plans ! how great muft 
thy power be, to be able to guide and direct, ac^- 
cording to thy will, the moft immenfe bodies ! 
to animate all by thy breath ! ^nd to preferve 
all by thy almighty word ! 



98 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



THE BLUE COLOR OF THE SKT. 



" How clear the cloudlefs iky ! how deeply ting'd 
" With a peculiar blue !" 

THOMPSON. 



To judge merely by our fenfes we might im- 
agine the Iky over our heads to be a great vault 
painted blue, and the ftars fo many little brilliant 
nails ftuck in it. The reafon of it is that our at- 
mofphere is not quite tranfparent. If we were 
raifed very high above the furface of the earth, 
we fhould find that the air becomes more and 
more fubtile, till we could no longer breathe in 
it ; and it would at laft end in pure aether. The 
higher we climb on mountains the lighter the 
atmofphere grows, and the darker the bright 
azure of the Iky appears. If we could rife as 
high as pure aether, this color would be entirely 
loft. The Iky would feem to us as black as at 
night ; for all objects that do not tranfmit to us 
any rays of light appear fo.* Confequently, if 
the air that furrounds us were as tranfparent as 
aether, the Iky would not appear blue to us. 

* We are informed by travellers, who have been on the 
high Alps, that the iky looked as black as jet. 



WORKS OF NATURE. 99 

The blue color of the fky is occasioned by the 
difpofition of the atmofphere to reflect towards 
the earth the blue rays of light more copioufly 
than the rays of other colors. However pale 
and flight the blue rays of light may be, there 
falls fo great a quantity of them on our eyes, 
when we are in the open air, that the effect re- 
fulting from them is rather a dark blue. 

Thefe reflections may make fome confider the 
Iky differently from what they had done before* 
It may from hence be concluded that, even to 
the very color of the Iky, there is no phenome- 
non in nature, in~ which we may not difcover or- 
der, utility, and a wife purpofe. As the color of 
green is moft agreeable that the Creator could have 
chofen for the ornament of the earth, fo is the fine 
azure blue of the fky the befl calculated to charm 
the eye. How dreadful is the appearance of the 
iky when covered with ftormy clouds ! but what 
beauty, majefty, and fimplicity in the color of it, 
when the weather is calm and ferene ! The 
apartments of kings, decorated by the moft fkil- 
ful painters, are nothing when compared to the 
majeftic fimplicity of the celeftial vault. When 
the eye has for any time contemplated the beau* 
ties of the earth, it is fatiated and tired ; but 
the more we contemplate the heavens the mora 
charms we find in them. 



ICO CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



OF THE SUN. 



** Now Phoebus mounts triumphant in the ikies, 
u The clouds difperfe and gloomy horror flies : 
" Darknefs gives place to the victorious light, 
" And all around is gay and fair and bright." 

LANSDOWN. 



O^ all the parts of the fyftem of the world the 
Sun is the moil interefting to us. It is of a 
fpherical figure, and is compofed of a luminous 
fubftance which feems to be inexhauftible. By 
means of good telefcopes fpots have been difcov- 
cred on its furface, which by their motion, fhow 
that it turns round its axis in about twenty five 
days, ten hours. The fun is about ninety five 
millions of miles diftant from the earth, and 
about 1,400,000 times as great as the earth, the 
circumference of which is about 25,000 miles. 
It illuminates twenty one opake globes called 
planets, which revole round it at different dis- 
tances^ and in different periodic times : feven of 
thefe are called primary y and fourteen fecondary 
planets. 



WORKS OF NATURE. IOI 

The Sun was long fuppofed to be an immenfe 
globe of fire ; but Herfchel, who has paid great 
attention to his fpots, confiders that luminary as 
limilar to the planets, and not a flaming orb. 
He calculates fome of its mountains to be two 
hundred leagues in height. According to this 
Aftronomer, the atmofphere of the fun is com- 
pofed of different elaftic fluids, fome of which 
are luminous or phofphoric, others fimply tranC- 
parent. The former give the fun the appear- 
ance of a mafs of light or fire ; while the latter, 
being only tranfparent, fuffers his body to befeen: 
hence the maculae or fpots. He alfo, farther, 
conceives the fun to be inhabited, as there is 
reafon from analogy, to fuppofe all the planets 
are. 

It is afcertained that light employs about eight 
minutes in its paffage from the fun to the earth. 
This is an aftonifhing velocity ; it is moving 
through a fpace of ninety five millions of miles in 
eight minutes, which is about a million of times 
fwifter than a cannon ball when it is firft pro- 
jected from the mouth of the piece ; a rapidity 
too great for the imagination to follow, or the 
mind to comprehend. And yet, furprifing as 
fuch a motion appears, there may be ftars whofe 



102 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

light has not reached us fince the creation of the 
world. 

Notwithftanding the vaft floods of light and 
heat which the fun has continued to fend forth 
every moment from its firft creation, it ftill re- 
mains undiminifhed, and as ftrong and diffufive 
as at the firft day. Well might the Prophet 
cry out u Great is the Lord who made it /" What 
muft He be who dwelleth in light inacceffible 
* and full of glory, whofe works are fo numerous, 
fo fplendid, and fo auguft ! 



WORKS OF NATURE. I03 



PLANETART SYSTEM. 



« " Seiz'd in thought, I mount, 

" From the green borders of the peopled earth, 
" And the pale moon, her duteous fair attendant; 
" From folitary mars ; from the vaft orb of jupiter ; 
* To the dim verge, the fuburbs of the fyftem, 
" Where cheerlefs faturn, midfl his wat'ry moons, 
U Girt with a lucid zone, in gloomy pomp, 
" Sits like an exil'd monarch." 

MRS. BARBAULD, 



JDy the Solar or Planetary Syjlem, is meant the 
Drder and difpofition of the feveral heavenly 
bodies which revolve round the fun, as the cen- 
tre of their motion, and receive from it their 
tight and heat. Thefe celeftial fpheres confift 
df planets and comets. Under the denomina- 
tion of planets are comprifed Mercury, Fenus, 
the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and HerfcheL 
By the motion of the dark fpots vilible on the 
planets, we know that they revolve round their 

axes.* 

I • 

* The axis of a planet is a line imagined (for the fake of 
.pprehenfion) to be drawn through its centre, about which 
t revolves. The extremities of this line, terminating in op- 
>ofite points on the furface of the planet, are called its poles. 
That which points towards the northern parts of the heav- 
ns is called the. north pole ; and the other, which points to- 
wards the fouthern part, is called the fouth pete* 



IG4 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

I. The neareft planet to the fun is mercurt 
which is in a manner loft in its rays, and there- 
fore is feldom feen, and is the leaft known of all 
the planets. It is 36,387,583 miles diftant from 
the fun •, and performs its annual revolution in 
eighty (even days, twenty three hours, fifteen 
minutes, and forty four feconds. It is 3,189 
miles in diameter ; and in bulk thirty times infe- 
rior to our earth. 

That all the planel >ited is, from 

analogy extremely probable *, and though the 
heat of this muft be feven times greater than 
our torrid zone 9 the animals and vegetables ar 
doubt proportionably tempered by omnip 
wifdom to endure it. 

II. VENUS is the next ; which is called the 
wurningjlar when it riles before, and the t 

Hat when it fets after the fun. Venus is 
6-, 99^,362 miles diftant from the fun \ per- 
forms its annual revolution in two hundred and 
twenty four days, iixteen hours, forty nine min- 

, and eleven feconds ; a diurnal rotation in 
twenty three hours and twenty minutes ; and is 
7609 miles in diameter. 

Being twice as remote from the fun as Mercu- 
ry, the light and heat of Venus, though twice as I 



WORKS OF NATURE, lO£ 

much as in our Earth, are about a fourth part 
lefs than in Mercury. 

in. Next is the earth, which is 94,000,474 
miles diftant from the fun : performs its annual 
revolution in three hundred and fixty five d 
fix hours, nine minutes, and twelve fceonds ; 
its diurnal in twenty three hours, fifty fix min- 
utes and four feconds } and is in diameter 7928 
miles. 

The earth is accompanied by a fecondary 
planet called the moon % which re voles round it in 
a particular orbit, and accompanies it in its an- 
nual revolution round the fun. 

The path travcrfed by the earth) wine; , 
agronomical langl called it 

to be that of the fun \ 

rime to denote the \\u\\ place in the havens; 
aftronomers have divided the who'. fthe 

earth's motion into 360 equal part-, which I 
tern- / thirty oi i Jign % of 

which laft there are twelve. The orbit of the 
earth is alio called the 1 

Che vifible path of the fun, all the eclipfes mufr 
happen in it. And being oval or elliptical, the 
earth mult at foine times approach nearer to the 
fun than at others, and mull: likewne, for the 
fame reafon, take more time in moving through 
one part of its path than another : confequ, 



toS CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

the earth is longer in traverfing one half than 
the other of its orbit. The rotation is more rap- 
id in the winter than in the fummer, by eight 
days : but although in winter we are nearer to 
the fun, yet in that feafon it feems fartheft from 
us, and the weather is more cold and inclement ; 
the reafon or which is that in fummer the rays 
of the fun fall dire&ly upon us, in winter they 
are tranfmitted obliquely. It might be expefted 
that as the fun is lefs diftant in winter than in 
fummer, it ftiould appear to us larger ; but the 
difference of fituation is fo fmall as to make no 
feniible alteration in its apparent magnitude. 

iv. The planet mars is 143,227,582 miles 
diftant from the fun : performs its annual 
motion in fix hundred and eighty fix days, 
twenty three hours, thirty minutes, and thirty 
fix feconds ; and its diurnal motion in twenty 
four hours and forty minutes. It is in diameter 
5195 miles. 

Its days and nights are always nearly of the 
fame length, becaufe, its axis is nearly at right 
angles to the plane of its orbit. Its year is al- 
moft twice as long as ours, but with little vari- 
ety of feafons. The quantity of light and heat 
which this planet receives from the fun is not 
half fo much as ours. Mars feems to have 



WORKS OF NATURE, I07 

around it an atmofphere, as the earth has ; 
which is argued from the fixed ftars appearing 
obfcure when they are feen juft by its body. 

This planet is diftinguifhed by a fiery red 
complexion ; which proceeds either from the 
matter of which its globe is compofed, or from a 
very thick atmofphere. 

It is the only planet above venus that traver- 
fes the heavens deftitute of attendants. 

When in oppofition to the fun it is five times 
nearer to us than when in conjunction with it : 
hence it is that it appears fo much bigger at one 
time than another. 

v. Next to mars rolls the great and aftonifh- 
ing orb of jupiter ; which is 471*974,585 miles 
diftant from the fun, and confequently its light 
and heat are about thirty two times lefs than 
ours. It performs its annual revolution in elev- 
en years, three hundred and fourteen. days, four- 
teen hours, and its diurnal rotation in nine hours, 
and fifty fix minutes. Its year is equal to almoft 
twelve of ours ; but without any confiderable 
change of feafons : yet the days and nights are 
computed to be only five hours in length. 

This planet is fuperior in bulk to all the oth- 
ers united ; being 92,414 miles in diameter, 
which exceeds the earth by a thoufand times. 

H 



I08 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

Befides abundance of fpots which may be ftm 
on the furface of Jupiter, it appears to be fur- 
rounded with feveral belts, or girdles, which are 
parallel to its equator and to one another ; and 
are variable both in refpeft to their breadth and 
their relative diftances. Sometimes they appear 
wider, fometimes narrower ; fometimes they are 
nearer, and fometimes farther off from one anoth- 
er : their nature and ufe are hitherto undeter- 
mined. 

Jupiter is enlightened by four moons, two on 
each fide ; each of them confiderably larger than 
that with which we are fupplied. 

vi. The planet saturn is 896,705,301 miles 
diftant from the fun : performs its annual revo- 
lution in ten thoufand feven hundred and fifty 
nine days, one hour, fifty one minutes, and elev- 
en feconds ; and its diurnal rotation in ten hours 
and fixteen minutes. It is 78,236 miles in di- 
ameter. 

This planet is remarkable for the prodigious 
circle that furrounds it, commonly termed its 
ring ; the diftance of which from the body of 
faturn is computed to be 21,000 miles, and its 
breadth 29,000. The component materials of 
this ring are unknown ; but it is fuppofed by 
fome means to fupply light and heat to the plan- 
[ et Saturn is attended by five mpons, of which 



WORKS OF NATURE. IC9 

the heareft is 82,000 miles diftant, and themoft 
remote 1,964,000 miles. The year in faturn is 
about twenty nine and an half of our computa- 
tion. But the length of its days and nights is 
not afcertained, becaufe the great diftance of the 
planet has eluded every endeavor to difcover 
whether it revolves round its axis. 

vii. The feventh, and laft, primary planet is 
herschel, (fo named from the gentleman who 
firft difcovered it on the 13th of March, 1781.) 
It is 1,783,698,244 miles diftant from the fun : 
performs its annual revolution in eighty three 
years, one hundred and fifty days, and eighteen 
hours. Its diameter is about 33,954 miles, and 
confequently it is about eighty times as big as 
the earth. 

The light of this planet is of a bluifh white 
color, and in brilliancy between that of the moon 
and venus. 

To a good eye, unaffifted by a telefcope, this 
new planet appears like a ftar of the fifth mag- 
nitude. On account of the immenfe diftance of 
Herfchel from the fource of light and heat to 
all' the bodies in our fyftem, it was highly prob- 
able that it was attended by fatellites or moons, 
and accordingly the high powers of the difcov- 
erer's telefcopes have enabled him to diftinguifh 
fever aL 






SIC CONTEMPLATIONS OK THE 



OF TH£ MOON. 



" The moon's full eye 

" Opes through a cloud, and looks around the iky," 



JL he moon, next to the fun, is, of all the ce- 
leftial bodies, that which has the moft falutary 
influence upon our globe ; and, if it were not in 
itfelf an object worth our attention, it would be- 
come fo at leaft by the great advantages which 
we derive from it. 

Even with the naked eye we can difcover fev- 
eral phenomena of the moon. It is a round 
opaque body, and fhines only by reflecting the 
light of the fun, therefore whilft that half of it 
which is towards the fun is enlightened, the other 
half muft be dark and invifible. Hence, it dis- 
appears when it comes between us and the fun, 
becaufe its dark fide is then towards us. When 
it is gone a little way forward we fee a little of 
its enlightened fide, which ftill increafes to our , 
view, as it advances, until the moon comes to be 
oppofite to the fun, and then its whole enlight- 
ened fide is towards the earth, and it appears 
with a round illuminated orb, which we call the 



WORKS OF NATURE, UX 

full moon ; its dark fide being then turned away 
from the earth. From the full, it feems to de- 
creafe gradually, as it goes through the other 
half of its courfe, fhowing us lefs and lefs of its 
enlightened fide every day, till its next change, 
or conjun&ion with the fun, and then it difap- 
pears as before. 

But what the naked eye may obferve in the 
moon is not to be compared to what we difcover 
by the affiftance of telefcopes and calculations. 
How much are we obliged to thofe enlightened 
men, who, to extend our knowledge, and to 
render the glory of our Creator more and more 
manifeft in the eyes of mankind, have made in- 
quiries and difcoveries which enable us to form 
the higheft notions of the celeftial bodies ? By 
means of their laborious obfervations we now 
know that the moon, which appears to the naked 
eye fo fmall, is, neverthelefs, confiderable, with 
relation to the earth. Its diameter is two thou- 
fand three hundred and twenty-fix miles, its 
proportionable fize as one is to forty-nine, and 
though the moon is nearer to us than any other 
planet, it is two hundred and forty thoufand 
miles diftant from this earth. 

There are feveral fpots in the moon vifible to 
the naked eye. Some of thefe fpots are pale and 

H 2 



112 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

dark ; others are more or lefs luminous, accord- 
ing to the light which they reflect The bright 
fpots are probably high mountains, which reflect 
the light of the fun from their tops ', and the 
dark fpots are probably vallies into which the 
fliadows of the mountains fall. Thefe difcov-^ 
eries, to which no folid objection can be made, 
prove that the moon is not fo inconfiderable a 
body as ignorant people imagine. The fize, the 
diftance, and all that we know of it, give us, on 
the contrary, a new proof of the unlimited power 
and wifdom of our Creator. But was a planet 
fo large as the moon defigned for no other pur- 
pofe than to light our globe for fome nights ? 
That body, which to all appearance refembles 
our earth, and feems proper for the fame ends, 
was it created only to produce the flux and re- 
flux of our feas, and for fome advantages to our 
globe with which we are ftill unacquainted ? Is it 
probable that a furface of fome millions of leagues 
fhould be without any living creatures ? Would 
the fupreme Being have left that immenfe fpace 
an empty defert ? It would be inconfiftent with 
the wifdom and goodnefs of God. Let us rather 
believe that God has eftablifhed his empire in 
that planet, as well as amongft us. Without 
doubt there are inhabitants upon it, who adore 



WORKS OF NATURE. n 3 

with us the fame Lord and Father, who are, like 
us, the objefts of his providential care, and for 
whofe happinefs God provides with the fame 
goodnefs as he does for ours. But as our know- 
ledge in this refpeft is ftill very imperfect, let us 
confine ourfelves to the advantages which accrue 
to us from the moon. The goodnefs of Provi- 
dence towards man manifefts itfelf very fenfibly 
in this cafe. The moon is placed near us that 
it alone may fhed more light upon our earth 
than all the fixed ftars together. We derive 
from it, not only an agreeable objeft, but a 
thoufand conveniences and advantages. In what 
diforder and confufion fhould we be, in regard 
to the divifion and meafure of time, were it not 
for the regularity with which the changes of the 
moon fucceed one another ? The calculations of 
Aftronomy, and the ufe of almanacks, are ow- 
ing to the jobfervations made on the courfe of 
the moon. 

Almighty God ! I adore by the light of the 
mooft, as by that of the fun, thy wifdom and 
goodnefs. The more I contemplate the heav- 
ens, which thou haft formed, the more I am fill- 
ed with wonder and admiration ! 



114 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



ECLIPSES OF THE SUN AND MOON. 



■ " Shorn of his beams, the fun 

" In dim eclipfe difaft'rous twilight flieds 
" On half the nations." 



MILTON. 



An eclipfe of the fun is an effeft entirely nat- 
ural. It is caufed by the moon's fhadow falling 
upon the earth/ But it can only take place 
when the moon, which is an opaque body, and 
dark in itfelf, comes nearly in a dire£l line be- 
tween the fun and the earth. It then conceals 
from us part or the whole of that globe. The 
former is called a partial eclipfe, the latter a to- 
tal eclipfe. Thus, the folar eclipfe is nothing 
more than the fituation of the earth when the' 
moon's fhadow falls upon it. We muft not im- 
agine that the fun is at that time really darken- 
ed : it is only concealed from us. It retains its 
ufual fplendor ; and all the difference is, that 
the rays which iflue from it cannot reach us, be- 
caufe the moon is placed between th.4 fun and 
our globe. This is the reafon that a folL- eclipfe 
is never vifible at the fame time in all foarts of 
our earth \ it is greater in one country t^an in 
another, and, in fome places, it is not feen at all 






WORKS OF NATURE. IIJ 

Not only the moon fometimes darkens our 
earth, but the latter alfo cafts its fhade upon the 
moon, and by thefe means intercepts the rays of 
the fun from it, either wholly, or in part, and 
this is called an eclipfe of the moon : but it can 
only take place when the moon is at one fide of 
the earth and the fun at the oppofite fide, and 
confequently when it is full moon. As that 
planet is really darkened by the fhadow of the 
earth, the eclipfe is perceived at the fame time 
on all the points of an hemifphere of our globe* 
Some people may perhaps afk, of what ufe are 
the eclipfes of the fun and moon ? To thofe who 
do not calculate the utility of natural things 
merely from the immediate advantages which 
they derive from them, the eclipfes are of import- 
ant ufe. It is by their means that the true po- 
fition and diftance of towns and countries are 
known, and that we have been able to trace ac- 
curate maps of the remoteft countries. Eclipfes, 
if well obferved, ferve alfo to confirm chronology, 
and to diredl the navigator, by fhewing him how- 
far he is from the eaft or weft. 
• Thef<jf advantages however unimportant they 
may ^>ear, are neverthelefs, truly efTential ; 
and ythout them we fhould be deprived of 3 
paraof our happinefs. 



Il6 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



COMETS.* 



K Thy hand to Comets marked the eccentric track 
" Throughout the van: illimitable void ; 
" Affign'd their periods, check'd their dire career, 
" While atheifb learn to tremble and adore." 



Comets are a large and numerous clafs of planets 
that perform their revolutions round the fun in 
figures extremely elliptical, fometimes approach- 
ing it much nearer than the orbit of mercury, at 
other times proceeding far beyond that of fat- 
urn, confequently at fome periods they poflefs 
vaftly more light and heat than the neareft plan- 
ets to the fun, and at others, are proportionably 
more cold and dark than the moft remote. 

Yet notwithstanding their prodigious eccen- 
I tricity, and their power to fuftain without inju- 
ry, the moft violent extremes of heat and cold, 
they are by no means fuch large bodies as thefe 

* Principally extracted from " The young Gentleman and 
Lady's Magazine," Vol. %. page 274. 

Thofe who would examine this fubjed:, will obtain the 
moft complete information from a very ingenious " EfTay 
011 Comets" by Andrew Oliver, jun. Esq. of Salem, Mafia* 
chufetts. 



WORKS OF NATURE. Iiy 

circumftances, and their portentous appearance 
in the heavens, would perfuade us : It is their 
tail that creates the idea of their vaft magnitude. 
The bulk of the largeft comet is not fuppofed to 
be much greater than the moon, and it is calcu- 
lated that fome of them are fmaller. 

Of thefe irregular and aftoniming bodies, for- 
ty or fifty have been obferved by aftronomers in 
various periods of the world, all perpetually mov- 
ing through millions of miles in infinite fpace, 
and appearing at uncertain times to the inhabit- 
ants of the earth \ and it is at leaft very poffible 
that there may be many more exifting in our 
fyftem which perform their vaft and inconceiva- 
ble revolutions, vifihle by other parts of the cre- 
ation, though not by us. 

Comets confift of a folid and opaque fub- 
ftance, as they have been difcovered to fhine on- 
ly by the reflection of the fun, like the other 
planets. They are likewife of a much greater 
denfity than the earth ; for fome of them are 
heated in every period when they approximate 
the fun to fuch a degree as would vitrify or dif- 
fipate any fubftance known to us. Sir Ifaac New- 
ton computed the heat of the comet which appear- 
ed in 1680, to be, when neareft the fun, 2000 
times hotter than red hot iron * } and that, being 



Il8 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

thus heated, it would retain its heat until it ap- 
peared again to us, although the diftance of the 
time fhould be 20,000 years, whereas its comput- 
ed period is only 575 years. 

It was then 1 67 times nearer than the earth, 
and 65 times nearer than mercury to the fun. 
The light and heat, therefore, of the comet at 
that time muft have been at leaft 4000 times fu- 
perior to thofe of mercury, and no lefs than 
28,000 times greater than in our torrid zone.. 

Leaving this contigupus fituation, it took its 
courfe to the diftance of 1 1,200 millions of miles 
from the fun ; which is at leaft fourteen times 
farther from it than the orbit of the moft re- 
mote planet faturn •, confequently the light and 
heat of the comet at this time were nearly 200 
times lefs than at faturn, and above 17,000 
times lefs than with us. Thus the light and 
heat of faturn were much more intenfe, compar- 
ed with the comet, than ours are, compared with 
faturn. 

The tail of a comet which lias vulgarly receiv- 
ed that denomination, becaufe it follows the body 
as an appendage to it, is fuppofed to be the re- 
dundant heat it receives in its approach to the 
fun, emitted from the atmofphere of the comet.* 

* Judge Oliver in his Effay on Comets has proved that 
" the tails of Comets are nothing more than expaniions of 



WORKS OF NATURE. Up 

Of all the comets, the periods only of three 
are known with any degree of certainty. The 
fir ft of thefe appeared in the years 1531, 1607, 
1682, 1758, and will appear every 75th year. 
The fecond of them appeared in 1532, 1661, 
and 1789, and may be expelled every 129th 
year. The third, having appeared laft in 1680, 
and its period being 575 years, cannot return 
till the year 2225. 

Of what terrible confequence thefe ftupend- 
bus phenomena might be to this, and mod 
probably to other planets, without the provi- 
dence of the Creator, may be conceived from 
this circumftance. Several comets have ap- 
proached very near to the orbit of the earth, 
particularly that in 1680 ; which on Nov. 1 1, at 
one o'clock in the afternoon, was at fo fmall 
a diftance, that had the earth been about that 
part of its orbit, the whole planet and all its in- 
habitants, would have been confumed by fire. 
The exceffive heat might probably have convert- 
ed the matter of the prefent earth into a different 

their atmofpheres, &c." 9, v. page 68 ; and his reafoning is 
to fhew that " in confequence of thefe curious appendages 
comets may be inhabited worlds, and even comfortable habi- 
tations ; notwithftanding the vaft eccentricities of their 
orbits,** 



126 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

kind of fubftance, and have rendered it an habi- 
tation adapted to beings of a nature totally dif- 
ferent from us. 

But, although fiich an event is poffible in na- 
ture, yet certain circumftances reft it on a mere 
and very unlikely chance whether it will ever 
happen in any definite time ; for the planes of 
all the cometary orbits are raifed above thofe of 
the planets, fo that there is but one particular 
place in the orbit of a comet where its tail can 
pafs over the orbits of the planets ; and it is fo 
many chances to one that a planet fhould be in 
this part of its orbit at that particular time, that 
there is but little reafon to fear fuch a cataf* 
trophe. 

The aftonifhing courfes that the comets per- 
form in empty fpace, and particularly that of 
1680 (which in the part of its orbit neareft the 
fun flies with the amazing fwiftnefs of 880,000 
miles in an hour) fuggefts to our minds an idea 
of the vaft diftance between the fun and the 
neareft fixed ftars ; of whofe attractions all the 
comets muft keep clear, in order to return peri- . 
odically and move round the fun : and it like- 
wife demonftrates that the neareft fixed ftars, 
which probably are thofe that feem the largeft 
are as big as our fun, and of the fame nature 



WORKS OF NATURE. 121 

•frith it ; otherwife they could not appear fo 
bright and large to us at fo immenfe a diftance. 

"The diurnal motions of the planets are perform- 
ed nearly in the fame directions with their annu- 
al ; both motions, in all as far as they have been 
difcovered, being direc% or from weft to eaft : 
whereas the diurnal motions of comets are per- 
formed contrary to this rule. Planets and com- 
ets differ alfo in other particulars. The annual 
motions of the former are all direct, and are ap- 
parently confined within the limits of the zo- 
diac, the latter move indifferently in all direc- 
tions through the heavens. The periodical revo- 
lutions of the former are made in orbits nearly 
circular, thofe of the latter are prodigioufly ec- 
centric, and nearly parabolical. All which feein 
wifely to be ordered, that a multitude of worlds 
may exift at the fame time, and be enlightened, 
warmed, and rendered prolific by the rays of the 
fame fun, without interfering in their motions, 
or difturbing the harmony of the fyftem."* 

" Thefe exotic ftars ferve to raife m our minds 
moft fublime conceptions of Gor*, and particular- 
ly difplay his exquifite fkill. The motions of 
many comets being contrary to thofe of the plan- 
ets, {hew that neither of them proceed from 

* Judge Oliver's EfTay on Comets, page 81. 



122 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

neceffity or fate, but from choice and defign. T^e 
fame thing is to be feen in the figure and fitua* 
tion of their orbits ; which indeed have not the 
appearance of regularity, as thofe of the planets, 
and yet are the refult of admirable contrivance. 
By means of their great eccentricity, they run fo 
fwiftly through the planetary regions as to have 
but very little time to difturb their own motions, 
or thofe of the planets. And this end is ftill 
more effectually anfweved in thofe comets whofe 
motion is retrograde, or contrary to that of the 
planets. In this cafe, the relative velocity where- 
with the comet and planet nun by each other is 
the fum y but, when comets move the fame way 
as the planets, it is the difference, of their real ve- 
locities. By this great eccentricity, likewife, as 
well as by the very different fituation of their 
planes, they are at vaft diftances from each oth- 
er in their aphelia ; where their motions are fo 
flow and their gravitation to the fun fo weak, 
that their mutual gravitation might produce ir- 
regularities, and perhaps throw the fyftem into 
confuiion ; which this precaution has guarded 
againft."* 

That the comets are inhabited by rational be- 
ings, or, indeed that it is poffible for creatures 

* ProfefTor Wxnthrqp's le<£tures on Comets, p. 49* 



WORKS OF NATURE, 1 23 

fuch as we can conceiye to exift in them, feems, 
On the firft confederation, to be a pofition the 
leaft likely to be advanced or admitted. But 
when we reflect on the infinite power and good- 
nefs of the Deity, the latter inclining, the former 
enabling him to make creatures fuited to all 
ftates and circumftances ; that matter exifts only 
for the fake of intelligent beings -, and that 
wherever we find it we always perceive it preg- 
nant with life, or fubfervient to that purpofe ; 
when we confider the numberlefs fpecies, the 
aftonifhing diverfity of animals in earth, air, wa-> 
ter, and even on other animals ; every blade of 
grafs, every tender leaf, every natural fluid, 
fwarming with life, and every one of thefe enjoy- 
ing fuch gratifications as the nature and ftate of 
each require j when we farther reflect that foroe 
centuries ago a great part of the earth was judg- 
ed uninhabitable, till experience undeceived us ; 
the torrid zone, on account of its exceflive heat j 
and both the frigid zones by reafon of their ex- 
treme cold ; it feems highly probable that fuch 
numerous and large maffes of durable matter as 
the comets are not (however diffimilar to our 
earth) deftitute of beings capable of contem- 
plating with wonder and acknowledging with 



1 24 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

gratitude the wifdom, fymmetry, and beauty of 
the creation, which is more plainly to be obferved 
in their extenfive tour through the heavens, than 
in our confined circuit* Yet however difficult 
it may be for us, circumftanced as we are, to dif- 
cover their particular designation, this is an un- 
doubted truth, that wherever the Deity exerts 
his power, there alfo he manifefts his wifdom 
and his goodnefs. 

It may not be unentertaining to the curious 
reader to perufe a very remarkable paflage trans- 
lated from a work remaining of the heathen 
philofopher Seneca, on this moft interefting fub- 
je£t, efpecially as it clofes with a remark that, 
by the event, appears to have been written in a 
prophetic fpirit. 

* " I cannot," fays this ancient and celebrated 
fage, " affent to our philofophers in thinking 
that the comets are fires fuddenly kindled, which 
appear for a time, and are then extinguifhed, 
on the contrary, I efteem them among the eter- 
nal works of nature. And why fhould we won- 
der that comets, which are fo rare a fpeftacle in 
the world, are not yet reftri&ed by certain laws ? 
and that the times of their appearing and disap- 
pearing are unknown, confidering the courfes 
they take through fuch prodigious intervals of 



works of Mature* 125 

fpace ? The time will come when the diligence 
of a future age fhall difcover thofe things which 
are now concealed. The day fhall arrive in 
which pofterity will be furprifed that we were 
ignorant of matters, that to themfelves are rend- 
ered fo intelligible. A perfonjhall ar& who will 
demon/Irate into what region the comets wander f 
why they move fo feparately from thfrejl of the plan- 
ets , and what is their nature and magnitude?* 
This perfon was Sir Isaac Newton ! After 
many centuries elapfed with little infight gained 
into the true conftitution of thefe bodies, and 
none at all into their real motions, this great ge- 
nius arofe, and with a ftrength of mind peculiar 
to himfelf 

" Purfued the comets where they fartheft run, 
" And brought them back obfequious to the fun," 

a£ Pope has happily exprefled it. Formed to 
penetrate into the moft abftrufe recefies of na- 
ture, he traced thefe unknown travellers through 
every ftep of their long journey, delineated the 
particular tour they make, and fhewed by what 
fecret influence they are determined to revifit 
our planetary regions, after an abfence of fcores, 
or rather centuries of years. 

* Seneca Natural Quoejfl lib, vii. Cap, xxvi, 



126 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



To imagine that the appearing of a comet 2s 
ominous, and that it forebodes fome approaching 
calamity to any part of the earth, is a fuperfti- 
tious conceit, without any foundation in reafon j 
and it feems to be condemned in Scripture. Jer- 
emiah x. ^ " Thus faith the Lord, learn not 
the way of the heathen, aitd be not difmayed at 
the figns of Hie heavens •, for the heathen are 
difmayed at them." 




• 



WORKS OF NATURE. l%\ 



OF THE MILKY WAT- 



i: A broad and ample road, whofe duft is gold 
" And pavement ftars, as flars to thee appear, 
" Seen in the Galaxy, that milky way, 
" Which nightly, as a circling zone thou feed 
" Powder'd with ftars." 



t 



When we examine the Iky at night we perceive 
a pale and irregular light over our heads. Nu- 
merous ftars, the rays of which, by their confu- 
fion, form this luminous tra£l ; which is com- 
monly called the galaxy or milky way. They 
are too far from us to be perceived feparately by 
the naked eye ; and even between thofe which 
are vifibie through a glafs there are fpaces dis- 
coverable, which, to all appearance, are filled 
with an immenfe quantity of other ftars, which 
even the telefcope cannot make viiible. 

The ftars which we fee in the milky way ap- 
pear to us no more than fhining fpecks ; al- 
though they are much larger than the globe of 
the earth. Whatever inftrument we make ufe 
of, they ftill appear as fmall as before. If an in- 
habitant of our globe could travel in the air, and 
could attain the height of 190 millions of miles, 

I 2 



1-2* CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

the magnitude of thofe luminous bodies would 
not appear fenfibly increafed. However incredi- 
ble this may feem, it is not a chimerical idea, but 
is a faft which has attually been proved ; for 
about the twenty firft of December we are more 
than 190 millions of miles nearer, the northern 
part of the Iky than we fhall be about the twenty 
firft of June ; and, notwithftanding we do not 
perceive any difference of fize in thofe ftars. 
This milky way, fo inconfiderable in comparifon 
of the whole fpace of the heavens, is fufficient tq 
prove the greatnefs of the fupreme Being ; and 
every ftar difcovered in it teaches us the wifdom 
and goodnefs of God. 

What are thofe ftars in comparifon of the im- 
menfe number of globes and worlds which roll in 
the firmament ! A late ingenious aftronomer, by 
help of a telefcope of remarkable power, ha§ 
difcovered beyond conjefture this account of the 
milky way, and fays, €€ That even our fun, and 
in confequence our whole folar fyftem, form? 
but a part of the radiant circle. Many fmall 
ipecks in the heavens, unfeen by mortal eye, he 
difcovers to confift of myriads of ftars ; being, as 
he fuppofes, entire fyftems of themfelves." Here ij 
reafon ftops and is confounded : To admire an4 
adore is all that remains for us to do. 



WORKS OF NATURE. 



12 f 



PLURALITY OF WORLDS* 



'• The ftars, which grace the high expaniion, bright 

: By their own beams and unprecarious light, 

: Though fome near neighbors feem, and fome difplay 

: United luftre in the milky way, 

: At a vaft diftance from each other lie 

: Severed by fpacious voids of liquid Iky. 

: All thefe illuftrious worlds, and many more 

: Which by the tube aftronomers explore, 

6 And millions which the glafs can ne'er defcry 

c Loft in the wilds of vaft immenfity, 

;t Are funs, are centres, whofe fuperior fway 

: Planets of various magnitude obey." 

BLACKMORE, 



It is not through ignorance alone, but alfo 
through felf love and pride,~that we give the 
name of world only to one of the leaft parts of 
the univerfe $ perfuading ourfelves that our 
globe alone is inhabited ; that the fun was made 
merely to communicate to us its light and heat, 
and that the moon and ftars have no other def- 
tination than that of lighting our nights, and 
fhewing the traveller his way. The contempla- 
tion of the fixed ftars is fufficient to contradift 
this ridiculous opinion. It is probable, that 
thofe celeftial bodies, are not luminous fpecks, 
but great funs. If their deftination were only 



I30 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

to ferve as nocturnal lights to us, they would be 
of no fervice the greateft part of the year. The 
frequent cloudy fkies, and the nights that are 
light from other caufes, would make them ufe- 
lefs. Thofe ftars alfo, which the naked eye can- 
not difcover, from their great diftance, would be 
abfolutely of no ufe ; and the purpofe afcribed 
to them would be better fupplied by one {ingle 
ftar nearer to us, than by lb many millions at 
that diftance. As the fame reafoning may be 
applied to every ufe which the ftars are of to us, 
either in navigation or any thing elfe, it muft be 
allowed, that we could not poffibly account for 
the defign of thofe numerous funs, if no crea-^ 
tures except thofe of our own globe profited by 
their light and heat, or unlefs they themfelves 
ferved as habitations for different beings. This 
conclusion will appear ftill more natural, if we re- 
flect attentively on our folar fyftem. We have 
already obferved that the moon in fome things 
refembles this earth. That there, as well as 
here, mountains and vallies are to be feen. Such 
affinities as thefe authorife us to admit others, 
and to fuppofe alfo in the moon, rivers, feas, 
minerals, plants, animals, and rational creatures. 
The analogy between the moon and the reft of 
the planets lead us to form the fame conje&ures 
of them. As the fixed ftars fhine by their own 
light, and not by reflecting the light of our fun 5 



WORKS OF NATURE. J3I 

we with reafon conclude that they are each of 
them of the fame nature with our central body : 
which being admitted, we naturally infer that 
they give light and life to other fyftems of plan- 
ets, as our fun does to its circumfluent worlds. 

Thus we behold round us an innumerable 
multitude of worlds, each of which has its pecu- 
liar laws, arrangement, productions., and inhabit- 
ants. 

How numerous are the works of God ! How 
glorious the ftarry Iky ! How great our Creator ! 
Millions of worlds declare his glory, and the in- 
telligent beings which they contain acknowledge 
and adore their Maker, How forcibly does this 
incline us to join with the heavenly choir in fing- 
ing his praife, that it may refound over all the 
univerfe ! How happy the profpect that opens 
to us of that future itate, wherein we fhall be 
acquainted with thefe worlds, and able to com- 
prehend the wonders of them ! How great will 
be our aftonifhment in discovering objects quite 
new to us, or at leaft very imperfectly known ! 
In what fplendor will the divine perfections ap- 
pear, the power of which extends over a multi- 
tude of worlds, while fome falfely imagine it 
reaches only to the little globe which we inhabit I 
What endlefs fubjects for glorifying the Creator 
^nd Ruler of ail thefe worlds ! 



l$Z CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



DISCOVERIES MADE Br THE MICROSCOPE. 



" clofe to the eye 

tt Apply the fight invigorating lens 

" And mark the fportful living myriads, 

u Elfe unobferv'd in viewlefs littlenefs." 



" Even the blue down the purple plum furrounds, 
" A living world, thy failing fight confounds, 

— " a peopled habitation (hows, 

" Where millions tafte the bounty god beftows." 

BOYSE. 



.N ature is in fmall objefts what flie is in great 
ones. There is no lefs order and harmony in 
the confirmation of the mite than in that of the 
elephant. The only difference is that the weak- 
nefs of our fight prevents us from penetrating 
into the nature and organization of fmall bodies, 
which often efcape our eyes, and which we can 
perceive only by the affiftance of glafles. Microk 
copes have made us acquainted with a new 
world of vegetables and animals. They teach 
us that cbjefts which the naked eye cannot dif- £ 
cover, have extent, parts, and form. Let us f£ 
mention fome examples of it, to lead us to praife 



WORKS OF NATURE. 133 

God, whofe glory manifefts itfelf {0 wonderfully 
in fmall objects. Every grain of fand appears 
round when we examine it with our eyes only, 
but by the afliftance of a glafs we may obferve 
that every grain is different both in fize and 
fhape. Some are perfectly round, others fquare, 
others conical, but moftly irregular. And what 
is ftill more aftonifhing is, that by means of a 
microfcope, which makes objects appear many 
times larger than they are, we may difcover, in 
the grains of fand, a new animal world : For it 
has been found, that their cavities contain in- 
fects. In cheefe, there are little worms called 
mites, which to the naked eye appear mere dots, 
whilft, with a microfcope, they are proved to be 
infects of a Angular figure. They have not only 
eyes, mouth, and feet, but a tranfparent body 
furnifhed with long hair in the form of prickles. 
As for the vegetable kingdom it is found in 
the mouldy fubftance which ufually fticks to 
damp bodies. It prefents a thick foreft of trees 
and plants, where the branches, leaves, flowers, 
and fruit can be clearly diftinguifhed. The 
flowers have long, white, tranfparent ftalks. 
The bud, before it opens, is but a little green 
ball ; and it does not become white till it has 
blown. You would as little expect to find thefe 



134 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

objects in mouldy fubftances, as that the meal 
which covers the wings of the butterfly fhould 
be a bunch of little feathers ; if the truth of it 
had not been proved by the rnicrofcope. But we 
have no occaiion to carry our researches to re- 
mote objects. Let us limit them to what relates 
to ourfelvcs. Examine with a rnicrofcope the 
furface of your fkin, and you will find that it re- 
fembles the fcaly fkin of a fifii. It has been 
computed that a grain of fand could cover 250 
of thefe ffcales, and that one only of thefe fcales 
covers 500 pores, and consequently that a fpace 
equal to a grain of fand contains 125,200 pores. 
Thus we fee how great our Creator is, even 
in things which ignorance and prejudice make 
us coniider as trifles. What an immenfe num- 
ber of creatures he has fpread over the earth ! 
How many objects in nature are concealed from 
us ! We already know above thirty thoufand 
plants, and of infects a vaft number of fpecies. 
But what is that in comparlfon of the whole ? 
If the bottom Gf the fea, and of rivers, could be 
open to our fight ; if we could tranfport our- 
felves to other planets ; how would our aftoniih- 
rnent increafe at the immenfe number of God's 
creatures ! How wonderfully we experience that 
he has difplayed as much wifdom in the mofi' 



< 



WORKS OF NATURE* 



m 



minute objects as in the greateft ! Even the 
fmalleft bodies are as' complete and regular, as 
thofe prodigious ones,, whofe circumference is 
calculated by millions. The Creator provides 
with the fame soodiiefs for the wants of the in- 
feci: which crawls in the drift, as for thofe of the 
whale which appears like an ifland in the midft 
of the waves. Let us imitate in this the example 
of the Deity. Let the leaft of creatures feel our 
benevolence, fince our common Author vouch- 
safes to preferve their exiftence. 



$?>6 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



SEVERAL USES OF FIRE. 



u That gracious Power who kindled up the Sun 
" To give us light and heat from loftier fpheres* 
" Has favor'd us with elemental jire 
" Subfervient to Our ufe and welfare too." 



JT iHe is, in fome degree, the univerfal inftra- 
ment of all the arts and all the nece&aries of life* 
In order that man fhould make continual life of 
this element, the Creator has caufed it to mix in 
the aif, the earth, the water, and all natural fub- 
ftances. 

How very ufeful is all the combuftible matter 
which fupplies us with fuel ! Without a luffi- 
cient proviiion of it we fhould not only lofe the 
greateft advantages, but we fhould be expofed to 
the greateft inconveniencies. 

In winter were it not for the fire which lights 
us, a great part of our time would pafs in the 
niofi: uncomfortable darknefs. Deprived of that 
artificial light, our moft agreeable amufements, j 
our pleafing ftudies, and neceflary toils, would 
ceafe at funfet. We fhould be obliged to re- 
main motionlefs, or elfe to wander in darknefs> 



WORKS OF NATURE. I37 

^ith horror, in the midft of a thoufand dangers* 
How dreary our ftate would be, if in the long 
winter evenings we could neither enjoy the pleas- 
ures of fociety, nor make ufe of the refources of 
reading, writing, and working ! Confider how 
unwholefome the greateft part of the food which 
the earth produces would be, and how little 
nourifhment there would be in it, if by means 
of fire it were not diflblved, foftened, and prepar- 
ed to a certain degree. 

And how mould we be able to provide fo ma- 
ny other neceffaries and conveniences of life, if 
the workmen and artifts did not procure them 
for us with the help of fire ? Without that ele- 
ment we fhould not be able to melt metals, to 
make them malliable, to refine them j to change 
fand into glafs j or to give to lime the conflu- 
ence of ftone. Without fire nature and all its 
treafures would become ufelefs, and would loie 
in our eyes moft of their charms. But let us limit 
ourfelves to the advantages which we derive from 
ijt during the months of winter. What comfort 
do we find in a room warmed by it, fo as to guard 
us from the imprefiion of the outward air ! Be- 
nummedby the cold we fhould be difenabled from 
labor and difinclined to exertion, at leaft expof- 
cd to a thoufand difagreeable fenfatkms, if the 



138 CONTEMPLATIONS ON tHE 

fire did not convey to us a certain adlivity. How 
many old and fkkly people would fuffer doubly* 
were it not for its benign influence ? What 
would become of the weak infant, if its delicate 
limbs were not ftrengthened by a gentle heat ? 
Oh ! unhappy people, who fuffer all the rigor 
of the cold feafon, and are ready to facrifice a 
portion of the bread which is left you, in order to 
get fuel to warm your trembling limbs. I pity 
you from the bottom of my heart. Your fitua- 
tion reminds me of a part of my happinefs, to 
which I have hitherto given but little attention, 
and impofes on me more ftrongly the obligation 
of gratitude for the advantages which I derive 
from the heat of fire. It impofes on me alfo the 
duty of giving part of my abundance to relieve 
others from thofe evils, from which I myfelf am 
exempt. O my God, my Creator and Benefac- 
tor, deign to look upon me ! See my heart ex- 
pand in praifes and thankfgivings. It is to thy 
fatherly care that I owe all the advantages, all the 
pleafures which fire enables me to enjoy. 



WORKS OF NATURE* 1 39 



MYSTERIES OF NATURE. 

" To man's fhort reach of mind and fcanty powers, 
" How much is dubious in the things he fees, 
" How much eludes his fight !" 



When we attempt to inveftigate things, and to 
penetrate into the caufes of effe&s daily under 
our obfervation, we are forced to acknowledge 
how limited our underftandings are. A thou- 
fand things in nature lie beyond our reach, and 
elude our comprehenfion ; while thofe which we 
can explain, have ftill many properties for which 
we cannot account. 

We hear the wind blow ; we experience its 
great, its different effects : but we know not ex- 
actly what produces it, what increafes or what 
P abates its violence. 
From a fmall feed put into the ground, and 
which appears there to rot and be wholly de- 
stroyed, we behold grafs fpring up, ftalks and ears 
of corn -, but we are ignorant how that is done. 
j We ftill lefs can comprehend how from a little 
* fruit ftone there grows a plant, and then a great 
tree, which is covered with leaves and blolToms 

K 



14© CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

to pleafe us, which x _, fruit for our nouriffi- 
ment or wood for our convenience. 

All the food which we take, and which is fo 
various in its kinds and fo different in its nature, 
is transformed within us by an incomprehenfible 
procefs, mixes with our blood and flelh, and, by 
means we cannot explain, becomes a part of our 
bodily frame and effential to its growth and 
health and exiftence. 

We find that the eye fees the images painted 
on the retina, and that the ear has a perception 
of the vibration of the air ; but how it is effect- 
ed, and indeed for all the perception through 
the medium of the fenfes we know not how to 
account, i 

We are confcious of the exiftence of a foul in 
our body •, but who can explain the union of 
foul and body, and their mutual influence on 
each other ? 

The effects of fire and air are continually be- 
fore us : but what is their nature, what their in- 
tegral parts, and how do all their different effects 
take place ? 

The wonderful properties of the loadftone, the 
lingular effedts of electricity, the theory of the 
thunder and lightning, the occafion of the au- 
rora borealis, and in a word many of the ph«~ 



! 



WORKS OF NATURE. 141 

nomena, are beyond the fphere of our compre- 
hension. 

The myfteries of nature afford us leiTons of 
wifdom. They check preemption, infpire dif- 
fidence and mode-fty. 

Concerning thofe things which are hidden in 
obfcurity and removed far from us, fo that we 
cannot difcover them at all, or can apprehend 
them only in a confufed or fuperficial way *, and 
concerning thofe that we have neither means to 
Inveftigate nor faculties to comprehend ; curiof- 
ity fhould be fuppreffed, and we fhould confent 
to be ignorant. 

Let us learn to fuk our defires of knowledge 
to our condition, and neither feek what we have 
not power to attain, nor fancy ourfelves knowing 
where we are ignorant, nor be contentious a A 
pofitive about things which we do not under- 
ftand. 






I 






PART II. 



SEASONS of the YEAR. 



MEDITATION ON THE FIRST DAY 0Z THE YEAR. 



« See the new born year, all gaily dreft 

" In radiant robes of novelty and hope, 

" Has feiz'd, with afpedt bland, the car of time/ 5 



I represent to myfelf this firft day of the year 
as if it were the firft day of my life \ and, from 
the goodnefs of God, I prefume to hope for 
bleffings this year equal to thofe that have been 
granted me on former ones. What may I not 
hope for from my heavenly Father, who from 
the firft moment of my exiftence provided for 
me with fo much tendernefs and goodnefs ? In 
my parents he gave me friends, who, from my 
very birth, fupported and brought me up, and 
whofe difinterefted affection protected me in the 
weak and helplefs ftate of infancy. Without 

K 2 



144 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

fuch care how could I have been prefervecUto en« 
joy the many bleffings which I now poffefs ? 

I enter with the prefent day into a new period 
of life, not fo much unprovided for, nor fo help- 
lefs, as when I firft came into- the world ; but 
with equal occafion for affiftance in many re- 
fpe&s as I then experienced. I require friends to 
Ihed fweets upon my life, to fupport my fpirits 
when opprefled with grief, and to warn me of 
dangers into which I might otherwife fall. And 
will not my heavenly Father grant me this beft of 
bleffings ? 

With this firft day of the year my lot is as it 
were fettled over again. The Lord, who gave 
me being, takes in at one glance (which nothing 
can deceive) each week, each day, each inftant of 
this year. All indeed that relates to me is hid- 
den from me ; but all things are vifible to God, 
and all are fettled according to his decrees, 
which are full of wifdom and goodnefs. If in 
the courfe of the year I experience any misfor- 
tune, which I could not forefee ; if any unfore- 
feen happinefs fall to my lot ; if I have any loft 
to bear, which I could not expeft - 9 all will work 
together for my good. 

Full of this convi&ion I begin the new year. 
Let what will happen I fhali be more and more 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. I45 

confirmed in the perfuafion that God will be my 
preferver ftill, as he has all along been. If I 
find myfelf expofed to poverty and diftrefs, I will 
remember the days of my infancy, that more 
critical ftate, in which he protected me. If I 
meet with ingratitude from a friend, even that 
ought not to make me unhappy. God can raife 
me up other friends, in whofe tendernefs I may 
enjoy delight and comfort. If days full of dan- 
gers, and perfecution be my lot, even thefe ought 
not to terrify me. I fliould put my truft in that 
power which protected my childhood, when it 
was expofed to a thoufand dangers. What then 
can prevent my beginning this year with a tran- 
quil mind ? I look forward without anxiety, and 
leave my fate to the guidance of Providence. 






I46 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



EQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE SEASONS* 



u There is, who deems all climes, all feafons fair ; 
u There Js, who knows no reftlefs paflion's ftrife ; 
" Contentment, fmilir>g"at each idle care ; 
C{ Contentment, thankful for the gift of life !" 

SCOTT OF AMWELL 



While the fun is far from us, and the fevere 
cold binds and fliuts up our earth, there are 
fome countries where the inhabitants enjoy all 
the beauties of Spring ; others, where they are 
gathering rich harvefts \ and others, where 
Autumn fills their granaries with fruit. Thus 
has the divine wifdom regulated the change of 
feafons, and diftributed the fame favors to all his 
creatures at different times. His impartial love 
extends to every being which he has made. It 
is fufficient that they are in want of his bleffings ; 
he takes pleafure in granting them. His benefi- 
cent views extend over the deferts of Arabia 
with as much goodnefs as over the fmiling coun- 
tries of Europe \ and his government is the fame 
from pole to pole. But, fince God diftributes 
the bleffings of this life with an equal hand, why 
are fome countries deprived of the pleafures of 
Spring, while others enjoy them in fuch abun- 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. I47 

dance ? Why are the rays of the fun fo partially 
fpread that in fome climates there is darknefs, 
and in others light, for whole months together ? 
Why are not the frozen countries near the pole 
as beautiful and fertile as our plains and valleys ? — > 
What art thou, O man, who dareft to afk fuch 
queftions ? What right haft thou to demand an 
account of the infinitely wife Being of the man- 
ner in which he rules the world ? Vain mortal, 
learn to be humble, and to acknowledge traces 
of a fovereign wifdom in the very things wherein 
thy weak underftanding imagines there are de- 
fers. God has given to each country what was 
neceflary to the life, fupport, and content of his 
creatures. All is planned according to the cli- 
mate which they inhabit ; and Providence has, 
every where, wifely provided for their preferva- 
tion and fupport. 

Lord ! The earth is full of thy mercies. Thy 
goodnefs is fpread over all the heavens, and 
extends to the very clouds. What country is 
there that has not experienced its effe&s ! What 
province, throughout thy immenfe empire, is 
there, in w r hich the traces of thy beneficence 
may not be feen ! Great and admirable are the 
order and beauty of the vifible creation ! — Q 
Lord how manifold are thy works ! in wifdom 
haft thou made them all ! 



I48 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



CHANGES OF THE SEASONS. 



U View how in courfe the conftant Seafons rife, 

" Deform the earth or beautify the ikies : 

" Firft, Spring advancing, with her flowery train ; 

« Next, Summer's hand that fpreads the fylvan fcene ; 

" Then Autumn, with her yellow harvefts crown'd ; 

" And trembling Winter, clofe the annual round." 

BOYSE* 



I n the warmeft climates, as well as in the 
coldeft there are but two feafons in the year 
really different. In the coldeft, Summer lafts 
about four months ; and the Winter about eight. 
Spring and Autumn are fcarcely perceptible 
there ; becaufe in a few days heat fucceeds cold ; 
and, on the contrary, heat is foon followed by 
fevere cold. The hotteft countries have a dry 
and burning feafon for feven or eight months. 
Afterwards comes rain, which lafts four or five 
months •, and this rainy feafon makes the differ- 
ence between Summer and Winter. It is only 
in temperate climates that there are four feafons 
in the year really diftincl. The Summer heats 
gradually decreafe, fo that the autumnal fruits 
have time to ripen by degrees, without being 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 1 49 

hurt by the cold of Winter. In the fame man- 
ner in Spring the plants have time to moot, and 
grow infenfibly, without being deftroyed by late 
frofts, or too much haftened by early heats. In 
Europe thefe four feafons are moft perceptible ; 
and particularly in Italy, and in the fouth of 
France. By degrees, as we advance towards the 
north, or towards the fouth, the Spring and 
Autumn are lefs marked. From the middle of 
May to the end of June it rains lets frequently ; 
after which the violent rains return, and continue 
to the end of July. In February and April the 
weather is very uncertain. If the melted fnow 
and rains remained on the ground, the water 
would annually rife to the height of a foot and 
three quarters in moft countries. 

This change of feafons deferves our admira- 
tion. It cannot be attributed to chance ; for in 
fortuitous events there can be neither order nor 
conftancy. Now in every country throughout 
the world the feafons fucceed each other with 
the fame regularity as the nights and days, and 
change the appearance of the earth precifeiy at 
the appointed time. We fee it fucceffively 
adorned, fometimes with herbs and leaves, fome- 
times with flowers, fometimes with fruit. Af- 
terwards it is ftripped of all its ornaments, till 



150 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

Spring returns, and in fome degree revives it. 
Spring, Summer, and Autumn provide food for 
men and animals, in giving them abundance of 
fruits ; and though nature appears dead in Win- 
ter, yet that feafon is not without its blefiings j 
for it moiftens and fertilizes the earth, and by 
that preparation makes it fit to produce its plants 
and fruits in due feafon. 




SEASONS OF THE YEAR* l$l 



:OWPLAINTS OF MANKIND, RELATIVE TO CERTAIN INCON- 
VENIENCES IN THE LAWS OF NATURE. 



" Prefumptuous man ! the reafon wouldft thou find 
<{ Why form'd fo weak, fo little, and fo blind • 
" Firft, if th^u canft, the harder reafon guefs, 
" Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no lefs ! 

,* Refpedting man, whatever wrong we call, 
" May, muft be right as relative to all.'* 

POPE, 



a W'hy is the human body, from its confuta- 
tion, liable to fo many infirmities and accidents ?" 
Let him who afks this queftion, fay, whether it 
be poffible to imagine a body which unites more 
advantages than that which he has received from 
his Creator ? If one of our fellow creatures be 
deformed, another lame, a third deaf or dumb ; is 
k a reafon for us to murmur againft God ? Are 
thofe defects fo common that they fhould in- 
duce us to complain ? It is of ufe to men, in 
general, that they may not want examples of the 
defects to which the human body is liable. For, 
when a perfon, perfect and well made, compares 
himfelf with one that is crooked and deformed, 
he is fenfible of all the advantages of well formed 
Kmbs ' y he learns to fet a proper value upon % 



152 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

gift on which he had hardly ever reflected till 
then, and to take more care of its prefervation* 
How valuable is each eye, each ear, each organ 
of fenfe, each joint, each limb, if we only ob- 
ferve the condition of the few people who are 
deprived of them ! "Would any of us part with 
a limb in exchange for the greateft treafure ? 
Are not our bodies more beautiful and regular 
than the fineft building, or the moft curious ma- 
chine ? x\nd though the latter are very inferior 
to it, we are far from attributing the aflemblagc 
of their parts to chance. 

*' c Why are fome countries of the earth fo dif- 
ferent from others ; fometimes cold, fometimes 
damp, fometimes low, and fometimes high ?" 
But, O man, it is owing to this difference that 
the countries of the earth produce that variety of 
exhalations and winds, which occaflon that mix- 
ed air, wherein experience tells us, that men and 
animals live healthy and content in moft places, 
and wherein plants alfo grow and increafe. 

" It is, however allowed that the variations of 
the weather are not beneficial to all men, and to 
all countries." But, has not the preceding 
weather influenced the following, as the climate 
of one country often influences another,, Are 
we capable of judging of the whole ; Muft a mil- 
lion of farmers figh in vain for rain, becaufe dry 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 1 53 

weather would fuk the private convenience of 
one family ? A certain temperature of the air 
may occafion, here and there, a tranlient barren- 
nefs j but, can it be called an evil, if it were 
necelTary in order to hinder the air from corrupt- 
ing ? Ought the eaft wind, favorable to a whole 
country, to ceafe to blow, becaufe its violence 
may caufe fome fhipwrecks, or be hurtful to 
fome confumptive people ? Is it reafonable, when 
we cannot take in the whole, to find fault with 
part ? 

" One part, one little part, we dimly lean, 

" Through the falfe medium of life's feverifh dream ; 

" Yet dare arraign the whole ftupendous plan, 

i( If but that little part incongruous ieem !" 

cc . Why are there fo many hurtful animals ?" 
Would it then be better to have no beafts of 
prey, fmall or large, upon the earth ? They put a 
Hop to the number of animals, that would other- 
wife overpower us ! and, it is becaufe fome ani- 
mals ferve for food to beafts of prey, that the 
numbers of living creatures increaf e every year. 
" Why has the Creator regulated the courfe 
j of nature by fuch invariable laws ? It is in con- 
ference of this regulation that man's experience 
and labor enable him to make ufe of his under- 
standing and powers, fo as to be, in fome meas- 
ure, mafter of his own welfare, Would we with 



154 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

to inhabit a world, where we fhould have no oc* 
caiion to do any thing ; where we could not in 
any way contribute to the multiplication of our 
own pleafures; where there fhould be no rule, 
no fundamental law ; where, in fhort, the befl, 
the bad, and the worft being equally unknown, 
nothing could make us attend to the laws of 
nature ? 

Doubtlefs, there will ever be a number of 
things in nature, the purpofes of which, or their 
relation with the whole, muft ever be concealed 
from us. But, on all occafions, let us reft on this 
principle, that God does every thing for wife and 
beneficent purpofes. And, when thefe enigmas, 
thefe inexplicable things, prefent themfelves, let 
us fay with the apoftle, " O ! the depth of the 
riches, both of the wifdom and knowledge of 
God ! How unfearchable are his judgments, and 
his ways paft finding out !" 

" Know then whate'er in Nature's ample field 
" The fcanty ken of thy revolving eye 
st Hath mark'd as evil, in the general plan 
" Is juft, is beauteous. The conjoining parts, 
u Though each when feparate, like a hngle limb 
" In fome proportion'd fhape, appears deform'd, 
" As view'd apart ; yet when exactly wrought 
3C In the full work, an heightened grace aflumes, 
** And aids the perieel fymmetry of nil" 

OGJLV2& 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 1 55 

SPRING. ■ 

HOPE OF SPRING. 



tt Stern winter hence with all his train removes, 
" And cheerful ikies and limpid ftreams are feen % 

u Thick fprouting foliage decorates the groves ; 
" Reviving herbage clothes the fields with green. 

,c Yet lovlier fcenes the approaching months prepare ; 

" Kind spring's full bounty foon will be difplav'd ; 
K The fmile of beauty every vale {hall wear, 

M The voice of fong enliven every fhade." 

SCOTT, OF AMWELL 



-tLvERY day brings us nearer to the pleafures of 
Spring, and gives us hope of the time approach- 
ing, in which we may breathe more freely, and 
contemplate nature with more fatisfacticn and 
joy. This fweet expectation is almoft the only 
one which does not deceive us, being founded on 
the invariable laws of nature. The charms of 
this hope are felt in every heart without diftiflc- 
tion •, for the beggar, as well as the monarch, 
may behold the Spring approach with pure joy, 
and promife himfelf in it the enjoyment of pleaf- 
ures, This hope is not attended with, impa* 



1$6 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

tience, becaufe it extends very far, and takes Irs 
a multitude of objetts. 

The coming of Spring procures us a thoufand 
new pleafures. The beauty and perfume of the 
flowers ; the finging of the birds ; the verdant 
foliage, and the fpringing grain.. .♦■ 

Moft earthly hopes are attended with anxie- 
ties : But that of Spring is as fatisfadtory as it is 
innocent and pure; fof nature feldom deceives 
us. On the contrary, her prefents generally fur- 
pafs our expectations, in number, magnificence 
and quantity. ^.Encouraged by. s the hope of 
Spring, we have patiently borne the inconveni- 
ence of cold and bad weather ; many are now 
on the point of feeing that hope abundantly real- 
ized. A few more difagreeable days and the Iky 
wiH become ferene, the air milder ; the fun will 
revive nature, and the earth will reaffume its or- 
naments. 

O moft merciful God ! I return thee thanks 
for thole fources of joy and comfort which thou 
haft opened to us, to foften the ills of life. I 
blefs thee for every ray of hope whiqh has ani- 
mated my foul, for every bleffing already receiv- 
ed, and for all thofe referved for me hereafter. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 157 



REFLECTIONS ON THE SEEING. 



" Lo spring returns on mildeft breezes borne! 
" Nature revives : the fields no longer mourn. 
" A verdant carpet o'er the plain flie fpreads, 
" And fragrant flowrets rife where e'er fhe treads, 
" The feather'd fongfters warble through the grove, 
" And give the genial feafon all to love," 



1 hat Seafon of the Year, which we call the 
Springy has chains which are felt in every heart ; 
all mankind behold its approach with joy, and 
promife themfeli T es much pleafure from it. 

It was but lately that the whole furface of the 
earth was barren and defolate. The vallies, the 
profpecl: of which now gives us fo much pleafure, 
were buried in fnow ; the rivers and ftreams, 
which now pieaiingly murmur as they flow, 
were flopped in their courfes ; the trees difcov- 
ered nothing but leaflefs branches ; the birds, 
who now fill the air with their mufic, were 
mute ; and, as far as the eye could ftretch, all 
was melancholy filence. But, in this beautiful 
feafon, nature awakes and all her vital energies 
revive. The mighty pulfe of life begins again to 
beat •, the earth, penetrated by the quickening 



15^ CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

warmth of the fun, reaflumes her ornaments ; 
the fky becomes ferene, and the air more mild ; 
the whole face erf" nature is renewed and embel- 
lifhed, and whenever we turn our eye, it is captl* 
vated and fweetly delighted. The feafons, sis they 
change, bring with them an agreeable variety, and 
each of them is diftinguifhed by peculiar pleas- 
ures ; but, of all others, this, the youth of 
the juft ripening year, moft univerfally delights 
us : all is beauty to the eye, mufic to the ear, and 
tranfport to the heart. 

That we may be the more ftrongly imprefled 
with a reverential admiration of that God whofe 
power and goodnefs are fo pleafingly manifefted at 
this feafon, let us confider fome of the various 
beauties and bleffings of the Spring. 

He who has any tafte for the beauties of na- 
ture can never want pure and fincere pleafures 
in this feafon. The clear unclouded fky is his 
canopy, and the earth, enamelled with flowers, is 
his carpet ; the cattle exprefs, in the beft manner 
they can, the fpirit and the joy with which they are 
animated ; the fifli, recovering their former vivac- 
ity, rife to the furface of the water, and agreea- 
bly amufe our fight •, whilft the air refounds with 
the fongs of birds, whofe concerts are hymns of 
jay to their Creator, expreflive of their happinefc 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR* 1 59 

and love. Such is the general blifs which the 
Spring produces ; and we every where trace its 
enlivening powers and happy effe&s in an uni- 
verfal ferenity, livelinefs and joy. 

Is it poffible that, at the fight and enjoyment 
of fuch objefts, the heart fhould not beat high 
with grateful tranfport ? Or can the mind have a 
more pleafing employment than that of contem- 
plating and praifing the greatnefs of the Creator's 
wifdom, and the beauty of his works ? Never 
ought we to breathe the refrefhing air of this 
feafon, without being awed into reverence, and 
warmed with devotion ; without recollefting 
that it is God who clothes the woods and mead- 
ows with their beautiful verdure ; gives life and 
happinefs to the various tribes of creatures who 
mingle fo much magnificence and beauty with 
1 the fcenery ; and that it is through Him we en- 
joy the fweets and the comforts of returning 
Spring. 

There is not a field which does not now pre- 
fent a beautiful landfcape to the eye. We fee on 
all fides a multitude of flowers in the bud ; their 
fweets as it were locked up, and their charms 
concealed \ but the all enlivening heat of the 
fun will foon open them, caufe them to bloom 
and blofTom, and equally delight and furprife us 

L 2 



l6o CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

with the variety of their beauties: for how 
much foever we may admire the prodigious num- 
ber of flowers, their variety i$, perhaps, more af- 
tonifhing. Certainly nothing but a Divine Pow- 
er could caufe fuch numbers to grow ; and this 
power muft be equalled by wifdom to produce 
fuch endlefs variety. Each has fomething pecu- 
liar to itfelf-, and it is an a£l of divine goodnefs 
thus to have varied them, and added that charm 
to their other perfections. If they had all been 
perfectly alike, the famenefs would have difguft- 
ed us ; and, if Summer produced no flowers but 
fuch as the Spring affords, we fliould foon be tired 
of cultivating them. With what wifdom has 
the Creator planned his works ! all wonderfully 
various, all completely perfect ! in all the agree- 
able and the tifeful are united. 

We may alfo find many reafons to admire the 
wifdom and goodnefs of the Creator in the fuc- 
cejfwn of flowers. Thefe beautiful children of 
nature appear not all at once, but in a regular 
fucceffion \ the time is fixed in which one is to 
unfold its leaves, and another to bloflbm, and a 
third to fade. Each month difplays ornaments 
peculiar to itfelf. And it is for very kind pur- 
pofes that, on the return of Spring, each plant and 
flower fliould open its leaves, and bloflbm 
at the time, and in the order appointed : The 
Creator thus favors us with a regular train of 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR* l6l 

benefits, and not only multiplies, but renders 
them perpetual ; for, although there are always 
fome flowers fading, there are new ones contin- 
ually fpringing up, to adorn the face of the 
earth, and enliven our journey through life. 

Let it alfo be remembered that, to the pleaf- 
ure which we receive from the wonderful varie- 
ty, and regular fucceflion of flowers, God has 
alfo been pleafed gracioufly to add the charm of 
fweet perfume, and to give as much variety to 
their fmell as to their forms ; and though we 
cannot exactly tell in what the difference confifts, 
yet we perceive it very fenfibly, in going from 
flower to flower : and it is remarkable that this 
fmell is not fo ftrong as to affect the head difa- 
greeably, or fo weak as to lofe its pleafing effedh 
Thus all the fenfations that flowers can give con- 
tribute to our happinefs ; they all combine to fill 
our minds with the pureft delights, and to lead 
our hearts to God. 

The leaves of trees and plants alfo, com- 
mon as they are, and of how little value foever 
they may feem, form, at this feafon, one of the 
beauties of nature § our impatience to fee them/ 
and our joy when they appear, prove fufficiently 
that they are a great ornament to our gardens, 
fields and woods. This, however, is the leal! 
of the advantages which arife from leaves* 



l6l CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

The nourifhment of plants and trees proceeds, 
m a great meafure, from their leaves, which im- 
bibe moifture, and receive thofe refrefhing dews, 
that falling upon the upper leaves, water thofe 
beneath them, and thus none of the nourifhing 
juice is loft. Leaves alfo contribute to the 
prefervation of thofe buds of trees, which 
are to moot in the following year, for the 
eye of the bud is already under the leaf, and is 
guarded and preferved by it ; as we fee many 
trees wither and die, when their leaves are gath- 
ered. This ihould teach us that the leaft of 
God's works has been planned with wifdom ; 
that there is not a fingle leaf which is a mere 
ornament, but that they all contribute to the 
fruitfulnefs of the earth, and the fupport of its 
inhabitants. 

Another pleafure attending the return of 
Spring is that " the time of the finging of birds 
is come :" the foft air of the Spring awakens the 
winged fongfters, the variety of whofe mufic 
charms the ear, and fills the foul with a fweet 
and a ferene pleafure. Thefe fplendid inhabit- 
ants of the air poffefs all thofe qualities that can 
foothe the heart, and pleafe the fancy ; the 
orighteft colors ; the roundeft forms ; the moft 
lively manners y and the fweetefl: mufic ; They 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 1 63 

enliven our walks ; and, throughout all the re- 
treats of retirement, fill our hearts with gaiety, 
and give harmony to meditation. 

Another advantage arifing from the Spring is, 
that it furnifhes us with an opportunity of ob- 
ferving the induftry and labors of the bees. Bees 
have been the theme of the poet, the legiflator, 
and philofopher ; they have been confidered as 
emblems both of public and private virtue ; of 
fubordination, ingenuity, and of a diligence 
Which is not only uncommon, but, perhaps, un- 
equalled. They appear as foon as winter is 
pall, and, even before the juices of thofe flowers 
which begin to bloffom have been fufficiently 
ripened to furnifh honey, gather fome little food; 
but their cares and activity increafe, as the feafon 
advances ^ they do all they can, and defpife not 
fmall gains, if they can increafe their ftores a little. 
They prudently lay up provision for the winter, 
knowing that they can gather no more when the 
feafon of flowers is paft \ and having then no re- 
fources for fubfiftence but inch as they have al- 
ready collefted. 

But it is not fufficient that we admire the ac- 
tivity of thefe little creatures ; it ought to infpire 
us with emulation, and ferve us as a model. There 
are, indeed, no infects around us wnich can 



164 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

afford us more pleafing, or more ufeful, leffons, 
Jnfignificant as they may feem, we may learn 
from them virtues on which the happinefs of 
our lives greatly depends. A hive is a fchool to 
which many of the human race ought to be 
fent. All the virtues are confpicuous in the 
bees ; they are never idle, and all labor for the 
public good \ they live in union and harmony \ 
are ftrictly united and perfectly happy ; they en- 
rich themfelves without robbing others ; and are 
all obedient and fubmiffive to the laws of the 
community. If we compare human focieties 
with this, we muft blufh and be afhamed ; par- 
ticularly if we recollect that we have much 
ftronger reafons for the performance of our duties 
than thefe infects ; as the fruit of our labors 
.extends not to days and years only, but to eter- 
nity. 

This feafon of the year feems peculiarly form- 
ed for piety. That cheerfulnefs of heart which 
fprings up in us from a furvey of the beauties of 
nature is an admirable preparation for gratitude j 
and it feems reafonable to fuppofe that each 
field fhould be to us a temple, where we fhould 
offer up to our Creator praife and thankfgiving ; 
where each thought and each action fhould tend 
to his glory, and thus convert a common walk 
into a morning or an evening facrifice. But 
we daily fee the ingratitude of man to his 
heavenly Benefactor* Yet how is it poffibie for 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, J 65 

us, at this feafon, to forget our Creator, who 
fliews himfelf to us in each blade of grafs and 
each flower of the field ; who addreffes himfelf, 
in the mild and perfuafive language of renovated 
nature, to our fenfes, our reafon, and all our fac- 
ulties ? Let us liften to her language and we 
fhall never be infenfible or ungrateful. When 
we 'find ourfelves pleafed with the beauties of the 
creation, let us confider to whom we are indebt- 
ed for all this entertainment ; who it is that 
openeth his hand and filleth the world with good. 
We fhall never truly enjoy this feafon, until, by 
fixing our attention on the works of the Creator, 
we learn to trace out his power and goodnefs ; 
and to be careful not to make a bad ufe of the 
bleflings of Spring, by indulging pleafures which 
lead to folly and fin. 

Yet Spring, though the feafon of hope, fup- 
plies us alfo with images of frailty and death, 
which are connected with almoft every beauty of 
nature. Spring is the feafon in which plants re- 
ceive a new life ; and in which moft of them 
perifh. We feetlie trees fall of bloflbms, and 
abounding with beauties : but all thefe fhewy 
ornaments will die in the fame feafon which 
gave them birth. Let every one, in thefe blof- 
foms, behold an image of himfelf ; and recollect 
that of thofe days of youth, which we call the 
Spring feafon of life, nothing but a melancholy 



l66 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

remembrance remains, unlefs he has made a 
good nfe of them. 

But, although thefe thoughts ought to make 
us ferious, we fhould notwithftanding enjoy both 
the Spring of nature and the pleafures of life, as 
they are beftowed upon us by our gracious Crea- 
tor : mixing, at the fame time, with thefe enjoy- 
ments fuch reflections as arife from the nature of 
fpring and of life. The thought of death is very 
confident with every innocent pleafure ; far from 
caufing melancholy, it fhould teach us to rejoice 
in the Lord ; fhould guard us againft a bad ufe 
of earthly pleafures, and infpire us with a defire 
of uninterrupted and everlafting happinefs. 

Laftly, let us recolleft that, as the flowers 
which we fo much admire in the Spring were 
once coarfe and ungraceful roots ; but, in their 
appointed time, bloom, delight our fenfes, and 
adorn the earth with an infinite variety of charms ; 
this affords us a beautiful reprefentation of the 
ftate of our reanimated bodies •, which, although, 
whilft in the grave, an object of horror, will ex- 
perience at the refurrection a moft aftonifhing 
change ; that which " was fown in difhonor fhall 
be raifed in glory" ; " the corruptible will put on 
incorruption ; the mortal be clothed with im- 
mortality;*' and fhineas the brightnefs of the fir- 
mament in the new Heavens and the new Earth, 
where an unfading Spring flourifhes, and will con- 
tinue to flourifh through the ages of eternity. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. l6j 



USE OF VEGETABLES. 



"Your contemplation farther yet purfue ; 

" The wondrous world of vegetables view. 

" Here various trees their various fruits produce* 

" Some for delightful tafte, and fome for ufe : 

" There fprouting plants enrich the plain and wood* 

u For phvlic fome, and fome delign'd for food : 

" While fragrant flowers with different colors dy'd 

" On fmfling meads unfold their gaudy pride. 

BLACKMORE. 

VVhen I confider tlie great number and varie- 
:y of vegetables, I difcover in this circumftance, 
is in every thing elfe, the beneficent views of my 
Creator. What indeed could he propofe by 
covering the earth with fo many different herbs, 
plants, and fruits, but the advantage and happi- 
nefs of his creatures ? Do not plants and fruit 
furnifh us every day with the moft wholcfcme 
nourifhing food ? Do we not moftly owe our 
cloathes, houfes, and furniture, to the vegetable 
world ? There is no part of plants but has its 
utility. The roots furnifh medicaments : They 
ferve for food and fuel •, to make pitch, dyes, 
and all forts of utenfils. Of wood is made char- 
| coal, buildings, fires, medicines, paper, dyes, 
i and a vaft number of inftruments. Even the 
S lark has its utility in medicine, in tanning, &c. The 



1 68 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

ajhes ferve to manure and improve the lands, to 
bleach cloth, to make faltpetre, potafh, &c. Ref- 
ill is ufeful to painters. Pitch and tar are made 
of it. Turpentine is ufed in medicine ; hard rof- 
in to varnifh, to folder, and to rub the bow- 
ftrings of mtilical inftruments, in order to make 
them more fonorous. Flowers pleafe and de- 
light both by their color and fmell. They are 
ufeful in medicine, and efpecially in furnifhing 
bees with wax and honey. The fruits, which 
ripen by degrees, ferve for our food, and are eat- 
en either raw, baked, dried, or preferved. But 
vegetables are not for the ufe of man alone. 
They are of ftill greater ufe to animals, moft of 
which have no other food. The reafon that 
there are fo many fields, and fo great a variety 
of herbs and plants, is that all the different ani- 
mals may find their proper food. 

O heavenly Father ! who can reckon all the 
bleffings which the vegetable world affords ? At 
leaft it is manifeft that all the arrangements 
which thou haft made, in this refpeft, tend to 
the utility of all thy creatures. Thou haft pro- 
vided for the wants of every individual. Thou 
haft affigned to each the plant propereft for its 
food and prefervation. There' is not a plant up- 
on earth that has not its purpofe and ufe. What 
fentiments, therefore, of gratitude and venera- 
tion ought we not to feel for thy beneficence. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 1 69 



ON THE BLOSSOMS OF TREES. 



Obferve the trees their tender buds difclcfe, 
How with young bloom the early orchard glows ; 
There ripening fruits in embryo fmall appear, 
The grateful profpecl of a plenteous year, 



At the time when our gardens and fields are 
adorned with all the ornaments cf Spring, all 
the region appears with equal pomp, and every- 
where prefents the mod cheerful profpech The 
power of the firft word pronounced by the Crea- 
tor when he formed the world, produced all 
thefe magnificent effe£ls. The Creator and 
Ruler of the world, has in a few days renewed, 
and in a manner created the earth again, for the 
ufe and pleafure of his intelligent creatures. 
Come, O man ! come and try what thy wifdom 
and power can do. Art thou able to make a 
fingle tree bloflbm, to call from the earth the 
fmalleft blade of grafs, to order a fingle tulip 
to appear in all its beauty ? Draw near, ye learn- 
ed artifts, and fkilful painters, and contemplate 
thefe flowers, examine thefe mafter pieces with 
the moft fcrupuloixs attention ! Is any th 



I70 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

wanting to their perfe&ion ? Do you find any 
fault in the mixing of the colors, in their form, 
or proportion ? Could your pencil exprefs the 
dazzling red of the peach bloom ? Could you 
imitate the fine enamel, the uniformity and fim- 
plicity with which a cherry tree in bloflbm is 
adorned ? But why do I fay, imitate ? Are you 
even capable of feeling all the magnificence of 
renewed nature, or of forming a juft idea of in-* 
imitable art ? If there were no ftronger proofs 
on earth of the power and wifdom of God, the 
flowers of Spring alone would be fufficient to 
convince us of it. His power evidently appears 
throughout the whole. Each tree, herb, and 
flower proclaims his goodnefs and wifdom, which 
are over all the earth. 

We remark an infinite variety in the blofTomS 
of trees. All are beautiful ; but their beauties 
are different. One furpafles another ; but there 
is none which has not fomething pleafing pe- 
culiar to itfelf. However great the Creator is in 
difpenfing his gifts, he ftill referves to himfelf 
the liberty of bellowing more on fome than oth- 
ers. But this difference is only in refpe£t to ac- 
ceflary qualities. Such a tree, for example, has 
bloflbms of a dazzling white ; another has red 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 171 

ftripes and fhades, which the firft wants : fome 
have, (added to the beauty of their form and col- 
or) an exquifite perfume. But all thefe differences 
are only accidental, and do not in the leaft affeft 
'their fertility or their ufefulnefs. Hence wc 
fhould learn a leflbn of contentment. If we 
have not the fame advantages which others pot- 
fefs ; if we are not as rich or as beautiful, we 
mould not repine ; we may ftill be as virtuous, 
and as happy. 

Let our chief ftudy be, to aft in fuch a man- 
ner, that when the beauty and charms of the 
body are no more, we may fupply their place 
with abundant fruits of virtue and piety : re- 
membering that a blighted Spring makes a bar- 
ren year ; and that, however beautiful and gay 
its flowers may be, they are only intended by 
nature to prepare for the fruits of autumn. 



M 



172 CONTEMPLATIONS' ON THE 



REFLECTIONS ON A FLOWER GARDEN. 



" arrayed 

" In all the colors of the nufhing year, 

" The garden glows, and fills the liberal air 

" With lavifh fragrance." 



THOMPSON, 



Oome and behold the flower garden, and re- 
flect on the number of different beauties affem- 
bled together in this little fpace. The art and 
induftry of man have made it a charming fcene 
of the fineft flowers. But what would it have 
been without care and culture ? A w T ild defert, 
full of thiftles and thorns. Such would youth 
be, if they were neglected to be formed or prop- 
erly educated. But when young people early re- 
ceive ufeful inftructions, and are under wife di* 
rection, they are like lovely bloflbms, which de- 
light with their beauty and will foon produce 
fruit beneficial to fociety. 

Behold the night violet, or the Julian flower, 
which, towards evening feents our gardens with 
its perfume, in which it is fuperior to all others. 
It is little and of a grey color, tinged with green, 
{o that it can fcareely be diftinguiihed from the 
leaves. Modefi, without fhew or pretentions, it 
perfumes the whole garden. It is like a perfon 
who has much genius, and whom nature has 
compenfated for the want of beauty by more 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 1 73 

agreeable and ufeful endowments. The benefi- 
cent man often does good in fecret and in obfcur- 
ity, and fheds around him the perfume of good 
works ; and, when we wifh to be acquainted 
with this moil eftimable of characters, we find 
that there is nothing oftentatious either in his 
perfon, condition, or rank. 

In the carnation beauty and perfume are both 
united, and it is undoubtedly the moft perfect of 
all flowers. It almoft equals ihe tulip in its col- 
ors, and it furpafles it in the multitude of its 
leaves and the elegance of its form. This flower 
is the emblem of an accomplifhed perfon, who 
knows how to conciliate the love and refpeft of 
his fellow creatures. 

Let us now obferve the rofe. Its color, form, 
fragrance, every thing in this flower charms us. 
But it appears to be the moft traniient and frail 
of any, and foon loofes the beauty that diftin- 
gui'fhed it from fo many flowers. This is an 
ufeful leflbn for thofe who are very handfome, 
and it ought to teach them not to be vain. 
And as its odors remain when the leaves are 
withered, it fuggefts this pleafing moral, that 
there are charms which give even to beauty its 
value while it lafted, and more than compehfate 
its lofs. 

In general, it is a melancholy fight to fee, in 
this fine feafon, the ground already ftrewed wifh 
fo many faded and dead flowers. We ought 
Eot, however to complain that Providence does 



J74 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

not give more liability to them. The world is a 
great ftage, where we are not to fee always the 
feme actors. It is right that thofe who have fin- 
iftied their parts fhould retire, and make room 
for others. This is what the variety of God's 
works requires •, a variety which conftitutes 
part of their perfection. We are alfo fenfible to 
the charms of novelty ; it is therefore neceffary 
that the firft objefts Ihould difappear. If flow- 
ers preferved their bloffoms the whole year, they 
would not pleafe us as much as they do by only 
lafting a few months. Their abfence makes us 
wifh for their return. If they were continually 
before us we fhould foon be fatiated. When we 
have feen an object in all its different points of 
view, we have in fome meafure exhaufted its 
beauty, we become indifferent to it, and we af- 
pire after new pleafures. The variation and con- 
tinual fucceffion of earthly bleffings are therefore 
a mean which Providence makes ufe of to ren- 
der our lives conftantly agreeable. 

Such is worldly happinefs. All is vai.ty. 
« All flefh is as grafs, and all the glory of man asi 
the flower of grafs. The grafs withereth, and 
the flower thereof falleth away." The lilies and 
rofes in a beautiful face fade as well as the flow- 
ers of the garden, and death leaves no traces oi 
them. Let us then be wife enough to feek oui 
peace and happinefs in conftant and durable blef-| 
lings. Wifdom and virtue never fade. Theji 
are inexhauftible fources of endlefsjoy. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 1 75 



THE BEAUTY AND UTILITY OF THE MEADOWS 
AND FIELDS. 



" As o'er the varied meads I ftray 

" Or trace through winding vales my way, 

" While opening flowers their fweets exhale 

" And odors breathe in every gale, 

* My foul refponfive hails the fcene, 

" Attun'd to joy and peace within. 

K But, muling on the liberal hand 

" That flatters blefiings o'er the land, 

tt That gives for man with power divine 

" The earth to teem, the fun to fhine, 

" My grateful heart with rapture burns 

" And pleafure to devotion turns." 



r Vv hatever charms the flowers cultivated in 
our gardens may have, thofe in the fields and 
meadows are ftill more agreeable. There is beau- 
ty in the former, but in the latter beauty and 
utility are united. Mere ufelefs beauty pleafes for 
a moment only. Is it not true that, in thofe 
long gravel walks, fo even and neat, thofe arbors 
and fummer houfes, thofe parterres with pretty 
borders, thofe walls, thofe inclofures, we feel con- 
fined, and as it were oppreffed ? All thofe pla- 
ces, where the view is confined, feem to fet 
bounds to our liberty. We wifh to fly away to 
m 2 



j 



170 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

the fields and meadows. We feem, in fome de- 
gree, to be more independent, and more at eafe, 
in proportion as our walk enlarges and lengthens 
before us. In the country, nature, fruitful and 
beautiful, every moment varies its appearance j 
whereas, in our ornamental gardens, we con- 
tinually behold the lame obje&s. Even their 
order and regularity prevent us from being long 
pleafed with them. They have nothing new 
to offer us, and we grow tired of them. The 
eye, on the contrary, wanders with pleafure 
over obje£ls continually diverfified, and extend- 
ing as far as the fight can reach. It was in or- 
der to give us this enjoyment that, in moft pla- 
ces, the ground was formed fmooth and even ; 
but that we might alfo have pleafing diftant 
profpedls, our horizon is furrounded with rifing 
hills. Nature has done ftill more : It has fpar- 
ed us the trouble of cultivating thofe flowery 
meads, or of watering them. An innumerable 
multitude of feeds is fown in them, which pro- 
duce a verdure fcarcely ever interrupted, or which 
is at leaft eafily renewed. This prodigious vari- 
ety of plants with which a field is covered is not 
for the fight only : they have each a feed, a blof- 
fom, qualities, and beauties,^ peculiar to them- 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 177 

felvcs. It is true that the fame fpecies of herbs 
is prodigioufly multiplied in each field •, but per- 
haps we do not make two fteps without tread- 
ing on an hundred different forts, each of which 
has its peculiar ufe. This is one of the firft re- 
flections which we ought to make at the fight of 
a field. To the pleafure which it affords us our 
beneficent Creator added confiderable advantages. 
The fields produce plants for our food, and a 
wonderful number of fimples which ferve for 
medicine. But the greateft ufe of the fields to 
us is the feeding, without expenfe, of thofe ani- 
mals with which we can the leaft difpenfe. The 
ox, as well that whofe flefh we eat, as that whofe 
labor helps to plough our ground, requires no 
food but grafs. The horfe, whofe fervices are 
innumerable, demands no other recompenfe for 
his toil than the free ufe of the field, or a fuffi- 
cient quantity of hay. The cow, whofe milk is 
one of the great fupports of our life, afks noth- 
ing more. The field is the mod complete in- 
heritance. It is even preferable to meadows, as 
its produce is certain, and requires neither fow- 
ing nor labor. It only cofts the flight trouble of 
gathering what it yields. Its produ&ions are 
not cafual, for it feldom happens that fields are 
deftroyed by drought or inundations, But it <s 



178 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

melancholy that men, who are generally fo inat- 
tentive, fo infenfible to the bleffings of God, 
fhould be fo in this refpeft alfo. We look upon 
grafs with contempt or indifference, perhaps, be- 
caufe it grows under our feet, and has not been 
made the objedt of our care and culture. But 
whatever may be the caufe of our indifference, it 
is certainly quite inexcufable. Would to God that 
our hearts were grateful whenever we walk in 
our fields and vallies ! that at the fight of our 
meadows enamelled with flowers we were fenfibly 
touched with the goodnefs of the Creator, who, 
with a bountiful hand, pours out abundance ! 
There is not a corner of the earth where we may 
not difcover traces of his good providence ! Ev-, 
ery country, every foil, the good and the bad, all 
equally proclaim the Preferver of the univerfe. 



SEASONS OF T f HE YEAR. I 79 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON A MEADOW. 



" Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot, 
" Full of frefli verdure and unnumber'd flowers, 
" The negligence of Nature, wide and wild ; 
u Where, undifguis'd by mimic art, {he fpreads 
" Unbounded beauty to the roving eye." 

THOMPSON. 



J^ARK and majeftic woods, where the pine 
raifes its ftately head, where the tufted oaks 
fpread their fhade ; ye rivers which roll your 
iilver waves through the grey mountains, it is 
not you I now mean to praife : it is the verdure 
and the enamel of the fields which are now the 
objects of my contemplation. How many beau- 
ties prefent themfelves to the fight, and how va- 
ried are they ! Millions of vegetables, millions of 
living creatures ! Some flying from flower to 
flower, whilft others creep and crawl in the dark 
labyrinths of the verdant grafs. All thefe in- 
fects, fo infinitely varied in form and beau- 
ty, find food and happinefs here. All inhabit 
this earth with us ; and, however contemptible 
they may appear in our eyes, are perfect each in 
i$s kind. How foft the murmurs of that limpid 



IlSo CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

item, which flows amongft the water creiTes, 
and along the banks of clover, whofe purple 
flowers are nourished by its little waves. Its 
fides are covered with thick grafs intermixed with 
flowers, which, bending over the water, trace 
their image in it. Behold that fcreft of waving 
herbs. What a mild luftre the fun cafts on 
thofe different fhades of green. Thofe delicate 
plants, interwoven with the grafs, mix their 
tender foliage ; or elfe proudly raife their heads 
above their companions, and difplay flowers 
without perfume ; whilft the humble violet grows 
on barren hills, exhaling its fweets around. Thus 
one often fees the ufeful virtuous man in pover- 
ty, whilft the rich and great are clothed in fump- 
tuous habits, wafting in idlenefs the bleflings ,of 
the earth. 

Winged infects purfue each other in the grafs. 
Sometimes I lofe fight of them in the verdure, 
and then again I fee a fwarm of them flying in 
the air, and fporting in the rays of the fun. What 
other buzzing is this I hear ? Why do thofe 
flowers fo bend their heads ? It is a fwarm of 
young bees. They have lightly flown from their 
diftant home, and difperfed over the gardens and 
fields. They are now gathering fweet nectar 
Irom the flowers, in order to carry it to their 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. l8l 

cells. There is not an idle one amongft them. 
They fly from flower to flower ; and, in feeking 
their ftores, they conceal their velvet heads in the 
cup of the flower, or elfe with labor penetrate into 
thofe that are not yet unfolded, and which after- 
wards inclofes the bee. There, on that high- 
clover, is perched a butterfly. He fhakes his 
gaudy wings, he fettles the fhining feathers which 
adorn his head, and feems proud of his charms. 
Beautiful butterfly ! make the flower bend ? 
which ferves thee for a throne, and contemplate 
thy rich drefs in the mirror of the water. Then 
wilt thou refemble a young beauty, admiring 
herfelf in the gkfs which reflects her charms. 
Her clothes are iefs beautiful than thy wings, 
and her thoughts are as light as thine. Behold 
this little worm playing on the grafs ! No re- 
fearches of luxury, no human art could imitate 
the green and gold which cover its wings, where- 
in all the colors of the rainbow are mixed. 

O how beautiful is nature ! The grafs and 
flowers grow luxurious ; the trees are covered 
with foliage ; the gentle zephyr falutes us ; the 
flocks feek their pafture ; the tender bleating 
lambs fkip and rejoice in their exiftence ; mil- 
lions of points of grafs rife up in this field, and 
to each point hangs a drop of dew. How 



I8Z CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

many primrofes, with their trembling leaves, are 
here ! What harmony in the notes of the birds 
from yonder hill ! Every thing exprefles joy : 
Every thing infpires it. It reigns in the hills and 
dales, in woods and in groves. O how beautiful 
is nature ! Yes, nature is beautiful even in the 
leaft of its productions •, and whoever can be in- 
fenfible to its charms, becaufe a prey to tu- 
multuous defires, purfues falfe bleflings, and de- 
prives himfelf of the pureft pleafures. Happy 
he, whofe innocent life pafles away in perform- 
ing his duty to his Maker and in the enjoyment 
of the beauties of nature ! The whole creation 
fmiles upon him, and joy attends him wherever 
he goes, and under whatever fhade he repofes. 
Pleafure fprings out of every fource, exhales from 
each flower, and refounds in every grove. Hap- 
py he who takes pleafure in innocent delights ! 
His mind is ferene as a calm fummer's day. His 
affections are gentle and pure as the perfume of 
the flowers around him. Happy he who, in the 
beauties of nature, traces the Creator and devotes 
himfelf wholly to him. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 1 83 

SUMMER. 



REFLECTIONS ON THE SUMMER. 



u Now genial funs and gentle breezes reign 

u And Summer's faireft fplendors deck the plain." 



Oummer is the Seafon in which the Creator 
pours forth the treafures of his bleffings in the 
greater! abundance. Nature, after having charm- 
ed us with the pleafures of Spring, is continually 
employed, during the Summer, in completing 
the hopes infpired by Spring -, in providing every 
thing to pleafe our fenfes, fupply our wants, and 
awaken in our hearts fentiments of gratitude. 
Wherefoever we go ; whether we climb the 
hills 1 range the vallies ; or feek the fhade of 
, the forefts ; a variety of beauties prefent them- 
felves to us ; all different from each other, but 
each poffeffed of charms fufficient to engage our 
attention. If we lift up our eyes, we are de- 
lighted with the radiance of the iky ; if we fix 
them on the earth, they are refrefhed by the 
beautiful verdure with which it is clothed, and 



I #4 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

prefented with a moft agreeable variety of flow- 
ers. The pleafing notes and the various melody 
of birds fill our hearts with a fweet and innocent 
delight : and the gentle murmurs of brooks and 
rivers are highly pleafing to the ear. Lofty trees 
and groves afford us agreeable fhade ; and the 
fields and gardens fupply us with a great variety of 
different fruits, that begin now daily toripen ! and 
which, bsiides pleafing the eye and the tafte, are 
very refrefhing to the body : In fhort, all that we 
fee or hear, tafte or fmell, increafes our pleafures, 
and contributes to our happinefs. But, in order 
to be more fenfible of the goodnefs, wifdom, and 
power of the Creator, in his appointment of 
Summer, let us attend to fome a£ts of his provi- 
dence which are more particularly vifible at this 
feafon. 

And, in the firft place, let me direct your at- 
tention to a blefling, common indeed, and there- 
fore little regarded ; but a bleffing, in itfelf in- 
valuable, and abfolutely neceffary to our fupport 
and continuance in life •, namely, Wheat. Let 
us caft our eyes on a field of wheat, and calculate, 
if we can, the millions of ears of corn which cov- 
er one fingle field ; and then refleft on the good- 
nefs of God who thus pienteoufly rewardeth the 
labors of men, by fupplying them with fuch an 
abundance of this moft neceffary of all food. Let 
usalfc confider the wifdom which is difplayed in 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 1 85 

the production of this precious gram. Wefow it 
in the ground, at a certain time, (and that is all 
that we can do) and, as foon as the earth fup« 
plies it with a fufficient moifture, it fwells and 
burfts the outer coat, which covered the root, 
the ftalk, and the leaves : The root then pierces 
the earth, and prepares nourifhment for the ftalk, 
which, though it appears very weak, is ftrong 
enough to endure the feverity of the feafon. By 
degrees it attains its proper height, and produces 
an ear of corn \ which is inclofed in leaves that 
ferve to proteft it, and armed with points to fe- I 
cure it from the birds. It feems, at firft view, 
impoffible that fo flender a ftalk, which grows 
four or five feet high, fhould fupport itfelf, 
and bear up its fruitful head, without finking 
beneath the weight, or being beat down by the 
wind^ but theCreator has wifely prevented this, by 
furnifhing the ftalk with four very ftrong knots, 
which ftrengthen it, but at the fame time leave it 
the power of bending without breaking. If the 
ftalk were weaker, the wind would break it ; if 
ftonger, birds might perch in it, and peck out the 
grain ; if it were harder and ftiffer, it might, in- 
deed, refift all weather, but would it then ferve, 
as it often does, as a bed for the poor ? To preferve 
the tender fprouts from accidents which might 



2 86 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

deftroy them at their birth, the two upper leaves of 
the ftalk unite clofely at the top, both to proteft it, 
and to draw nourifhing juices ; but as foon as the 
ftem is large enough to fupply the grain with fuf- 
ficient juices, the leaves drop off, that the root 
may have nothing more to nourifh than is necef- 
fary. The grain then appears, and thrives till 
the appointed time ; growing every day more 
yellow, until, finking at laft beneath the weight 
of its precious treafure, it bends the head of itfelf 
to the fickle ; and the joy that fparkles in the 
farmer's eyes, the joy of harveft, is a hymn of 
gratitude to the God of goodnefs. 

From this life fupporting grain we are fupplied 
with that food which is moft common, and 
moil wholefome. Bread is as neceflary at the 
table of a prince as at that of a laborer ; 
and the fick perfon is as much refrefhed by it as 
the healthy. A very plain proof that bread is 
neceflary for man is, that it is almoft the only 
food we do not diflike, though we eat it every 
day : and the man who has made it his daily 
food for feventy years, ftill eats it with pleafure, j 
though he has loft his relifh for all other j 
food. We ought, therefore, each day to praife J 
our Creator for this bleffing ; and to remember 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 1 87 

that he is unworthy of the bread which he eats 
who is unthankful for it. 

At this feafon of the year we have alfo an 
opportunity of obferving the aftonifhing wifdom 
and power of the Creator in a vaft variety of in- 
fects. Wherever we go, which way foever we 
look, they prefeht themfelves to our view ; and 
contribute, like the birds, to banifh folitude 
from our walks, and to fill up our leifure hours 
with the moft pleafing contemplations : For we 
may trace the hand of God as clearly and as ful- 
ly in the fmalleft infeft that crawleth on the 
earth, or flieth in the air, as in the huge ele- 
phant, or the whale that lies, like an ifland in 
the water. 

The number of infe&s cannot, perhaps, be 
afcertained 5 fome millions are known ; but, at 
prefent, I fliall confine my obfervations to two 
very remarkable ones, only fcQn in the fummer \ 
the ant and the caterpillar. 

Ants are famous from all antiquity for their 
focial and induftrious habits ; they have long 
been offered as a pattern of frugality to the ex- 
travagant, and of unceafing diligence to the 
fluggard. 

« The ants," fays the fcripture, " are a peo- 
ple not ftrong, yet are they exceeding wife ; 

N 



1 88 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

having no guide, overfeer, or ruler, they provide 
their meat in fummer, and gather their food in 
harveft." Their labor and diligence in collect- 
ing their ftores is wonderful ; they are ofteri 
feen to carry, and fometimes pufh before them, 
grains of corn, or infefts, much larger than 
themfelves ; if one faints beneath his load, 
another haftens to his affiftance ; if any thing is 
too heavy for one, and cannot be divided, feveral 
of them join to force it along. In gathering 
their ftores the loaded ants go one way, and the 
unloaded another, that they may not interrupt 
each Other ; and in the whole fociety there is not 
one idle, but every one contributes fomething to 
the common ftock. 

May we not learn from tliefe little creatures^ 
who inftrudt not by voice, but by example, an 
ufeful leflbn of a£tivity and diligence ? and how 
forcibly does this example teach us to feize the 
fleeting moments ; to lofe no opportunity of 
doing good ; not to wafte that time which can- 
not be recalled in doth or mfignificance ; not to 
leave a talent unemployed, or a duty unperform- 
ed ? Life hath its feafons, like the year ; the 
time of health and ftrength may be confidered as 
its fummer ; and if we then labor, like the ant, 
we fhall not only contribute to the public good^ 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. I 89 

but, probably, acquire a comfortable provifion 
againft the winter of life, when eafe and reft' 
will be very agreeable to us. 

Caterpillars are creatures very difagreeable to 
many perfons, who deftroy them wherever they 
meet with them ; and, fo far from confidering 
them with attention, will fcarcely look at them 4. 
yet, were we attentively to conftder them, we 
ihould not furely trample them under foot with- 
out obferving their wonderful formation, and 
being convinced that in fmall things, as well as 
in great, the power, wifdom and goodnefs of the 
Creator are admirably manifefted. 

Caterpillars are hatched from the eggs of but- 
terflies. During the winter they remain in an 
egg ft ate, lifelefs ; but the fame vivifying fan 
that pufhes out the budding leaf and the open- 
ing flower, and caufes the fwelling acorn to give 
birth to the fpreading oak, calls the caterpillar t 
alfo into life, to fhare the banquet that nature 
has provided for her children. Its life however, , 
feems one continual fuccefllon of changes ; and, 
towards the end of the fummer, after having 
changed its fkin feveral times, it ceafes to eat, 
and is employed in building a retreat, in which 
it quits the form of a caterpillar, and is changed 
into a butterfly. But t&he caterpillar, and the 



Xpo CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

butterfly that comes from it, appear to be tw» 
very different creatures : The former was a 
rough and difagreeable reptile \ the latter is 
adorned with the livelieft and moft beautiful col- 
ors, and diftinguifhed by ornaments which man 
can never hope to acquire : The former crawled 
fluggifhly on the earth, a mean looking worm, 
often in danger of being crufhed, and feeding on 
grofs food \ whilft the latter foars to the fky ; 
ranges all the beauties of the creation-, himfelf 
amongft the greateft ; fports in the fun beams £ 
difplays his golden wings ; triumphs in exift- 
ence ; and needs no other food than the dews 
of Heaven, and the honeyed juices which are 
drawn from the flowers. Who is it that hath 
raifed this infeft above the earth, enabled it to 
•live in the air, and beftowed upon it fuch a pro- 
fulion of beauties ? The Maker of the butterfly, 
and of man ; who has fhewn us, in this extra- 
ordinary infedt, the wonderful change that awaits 
ourfelves ; when " this corruptible fhall put on 
incorruption, and this mortal fhall put on im- 
mortality." 

It is likewife to be obferved, that the benefi- 
cent Being, who gives wifdom to man, hath alfo 
informed the butterfly how to fecure its pofteri- 
ty m fafety, by covering the eggs from which 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. I9I 

t5iey fpring with a fort of pafte, fo clofely that 
the rain cannot penetrate., nor the common cold 
of winter kill the young contained in them. 
And we may further remark that butterflies, as 
well as other infedts, conftantly lay their eggs on 
fuch plants as will afford their young neceffary 
food.) when they are firft hatched and too weak 
to fearch for it. Hence we fhould learn to ad- 
mire the wifdom of Providence ; to cherifh the 
love of pofterity, and to remember what we owe 
to fociety. 

Difcontent is faid to be the moft general evil 
that troubles the life of man ; and even at this 
ieafon, when nature prefenis every where cheer- 
ful fcenes, there are fome who murmur and 
complain. The heat of the fummer difpleafes 
many ; they complain greatly of it as weakening 
and rendering them incapable of labor. But can 
any man ferioufly wifh the fummer lefs warm ? 
Becaufe the heat may, fometimes, be a little in- 
convenient, would we wifh the fruits which are 
to £erve for our provifion in the winter not to 
ripen ? Let us not forget that heat and cold are 
diftributed to us in the wifeft proportion \ and 
that the fummer nights bring with them a cool- 
nefs which revives languifhing plants, and fo re- 
frefhes weakened animals that they forget the 

N 2 



Ip2 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



heat and fatigue of the day. If we ftudied the 
order, the beauty and perfection of the creation 
as attentively as we ought, we fhould ceafe thofe 
murmurings, which prove us equally ignorant 
and ungrateful ; and be convinced that, if we 
could alter any {ingle part of that great machine, 
the world, we fhould do much mifchief, but 
could make nothing better. 

Summer alfo, fay qj:hers, would be delightful^ 
if thunder JJcrms did not terrify us, The fear 
of thunder is perhaps, chiefly, owing to an opin- 
ion that it is the effect of the wrath of Heaven ; 
the minifter of the Almighty's vengeance : But 
if we confldered how much thefe ftorms contrib- 
uted to purify the air, and render the earth 
fruitful, we fliould regard them as bleffings 
more formed to infpire gratitude than terror. 
They fometimes indeed do mifchief, but fear 
greatly magnifies the danger. There is, gener- 
ally, fome fpace of time between the lightning 
and the thunder, and whoever has time to fear 
k already out of danger ; for the lightning alone 
is fatal : The thunder, when the flafh of light- 
ning is pail, is as harmlefs as the found of a can- 
non. Superftition and fear would foon be at an 

,1. \f kf reflected more attentively on the 



it we 



couife of nature, or conflilted tkcf I who ?,re weii 



SEASONS OV THE YEAR. 1 93 

informed on the fubject. But, if we cannot 
conquer the fear of thunder, let us endeavor to 
keep a confcience void of offence. The right- 
eous man, calm and compofed, fears nothing but 
his God ! and when the thunder roars, he trem- 
bles not, but looks up with humble and ftedfaft 
confidence to Him who commands the ftorm, 
and who, under appearances moft dreadful, is all 
gracious to hear, and almighty to protect. 

The awful fcenes of ftorm and tempeft, thun- 
der and lightning, are fometimes prefented to 
our eyes to teach us the majefty and greatnefs of 
the Creator ; but in thefe, as well as in more 
pleafing and cheerful fcenes, God appears as the 
friend and benefactor of mankind ; and this is 
the feafon in which all nature furnifhes the moft 
(hiking proofs of it ; when every thing com- 
bines to pleafe and to fupport us. But the time 
will foon come when nature will lofe much of 
her beauty and variety, and appear in a more 
gloomy form : She has now almoft ended her 
annual labor, and the nearer we approach to 
autumn the more do the enjoyments which arife 
from the various melody of birds and the cheerful 
fcenes of flowery meadows and gardens leflen 1 
and the ground is every where ftrewed with 
faded leaves and dead flowers. See we not here 
a picture of our life ? « All flefh is grafs, and all 



194 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



the glory of man as the flower of the field ; the 
grafs withereth, and the flower thereof falleth 
away." Let us then be wife enough to feek our 
happinefs in lafting bleffings. Wifdom and vir- 
tue never fade ; they are unceafing fources of 
endlefs joy. 

To conclude. What we obferve in the fum- 
mer of nature, we may obferve alfo in the fum- 
mer of life. When we have reached our forti- 
eth year, which is the beginning of a riper age, 
the world lofes part of its charms ; and, when we 
approach the autumn of life, we become a prey 
to cares, and are lefs calm and ferene, lefs lively 
and joyous than we were : we find our ftrength 
grow lefs ', and there come days when we fay we 
have no pleafure in them. Let us therefore en- 
joy this fummer as if it were to be our laft ; and 
fo live as to have no reafon to lament our having 
f© often feen the return of this feafon. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 1 95 



ON THE DEJV. 



The gentle dews each night refrefh the plain 
In kindlier moifture than the copious rain. 



1 he wife Ruler of the world, who watches 
continually over his children, and provides for all 
their wants, makes ufe of moze than one mean 
to render the earth fruitful. Sometimes it is by 
an inundation, like the Egyptian river Nile> 
which has the lingular property of overflowing 
its banks ,at certain ftated periods, to water a 
country where it never rains. Sometimes it is 
by rains, which fall more or lefs frequently in 
order to cool the air and water the parched 
ground. But the moft: common mean, the fureil 
and moft univerfal, though which men the leaft 
attend to, is the dew. This ineftimable gift of 
Heaven (which, even in years of the greateft 
drought, fupports and preferves the plants from 
perilhing,) comes in thofe fparkling drops {cen 
In fuch profufion morning and evening on the 
leaves of trees and plants. Dew confifts of 
aqueous vapors raifed by heat from the earth and 
plants, and condenfed by cold at night. By this 
'wife plan of the Creator the plants can vegetate 
and grow in countries even where there is no 



tg5 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

rain y for the foil of thofe parts being fandy, po«? 
irons, and very moift underneath, the heat draws 
out a great quantity of dew, which furrounds the 
plants and fupplies the place of rain, 

Thofe different methods which Providence 
makes ufe of to moiften and fertilize the earth, 
ought to remind us of thofe which he employs 
to improve the barren heart of man, and to make it 
fertile in good works. How many hardened hearts 
oblige him to fpeak in thunder and lightning, 
as formerly on Mount Sinai ! Lefs terrible means 
are employed to fave and effect others ; with a 
gentle, mild and perfuafive voice, God calls them 
to himfelf : he awakens their confciences, and 
refrefhes their fouls with the beneficent dew of 
his grace. Let this conduct of our heavenly 
Father ferve as a model for ours. Let us em- 
ploy all forts of means to reclaim our fellow 
creature, to make him better ; but let us partic* 
ularly endeavor to gain him rather by kindnefs 
than by puniihment. Let us imitate the benefi- 
e of the Lord : we fee how he refrefhes the 
parched earth with dew ; he revives and gives 
new life to the plants. Let us endeavor to re- 
vive the hearts of the afflicted, the languishing, 
and impoveriflied, with benefits, and to pour as 
7 bleffings on our fellow creatures as the 
Sieds upon the plants. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 



END OF SUMMER. 



*97 



— " The fading many colored woods, 

" Shade deepening over fhade, the country round 
" Imbrown ; a crowded umbrage, duik and dun 3 
" Of every hue, from wan declining green 
" To footy black." 



We no lender behold that fine enamel of the 
trees in blofibm ; the charms of fpring ; the mag- 
nificence of iummer ; thofe different tints and 
ihades of verdure in the woods and meads. 

The lea T *s are falling from the fruit trees. 
The £rafs of the field is withered. The dark 
flouds fill the fky, and fall in heavy rains. The 
dried leaves and the faded grafs, are prepared by 
the autumnal rains to form manure to enrich the 
ground. This reflection, with the pleafing ex- 
pectation of fpring, muft naturally excite our 
gratitude for the tender mercies of our Creator. 
Though the earth is lofing its beauty and exte- 
rior charms, and is expofed to the murmurs of 
thofe it has nourifhed and cheered, it is already 
beginning again to labor fecretly within its bof- 
om for their future welfare* 

> Perhaps our own lot in this world has its fea- 
fons : if it be fo, let us in the decline of life have 
recourfe to the provifions laid up in the days of 
profperity : and endeavor to make a good ufe of 
the fruits of our education and experience. Hap- 
py, if we carry with us to the grave the merit o| 
having been ufeful to fociety. 



t9§ CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



REFLECTIONS ON THE SUMMER WHICH HAS 
J'UST PASSED. 



" 'Twas Spring, 'twas Summer, all was gay, 
" Now Autumn bends a cloudy brow ; 

a The flowers of Spring are fwept away, 
" And Summer fruits defert the bough!" 



JOHNSON. 



1 he fine days of fumraer are flown ; and while 
we were preparing to enjqgr them, they difap- 
peared, and are gone. But have we a right to 
murmur at the difpenfations of God ? No, cer- 
tainly we fhould rather recollect the paft fea- 
fon, with the innocent pleafures it afforded, and 
blefs the Ruler of the world for them. What 
fweet fenfations they create ! With what pure 
joy the foul is filled, in contemplating the beau- 
ties of creation ! When the mountains and val- 
lies grow green before our eyes ; when the lark, 
foaring in the bright clouds, and the feathered 
chorifters in the fhady grove, warble flieir fweet 
fong ; when the flowers perfume the air around 
us ; when the morning dawn diffiifes univerfal 
gladnefs : or when the fetting fun tinges our 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, I99 

woods and hills with the fineft glow ; what hap- 
pinefs does the enjoyment of nature in full beau- 
ty afford us ! What rich gifts do the gardens, 
fields, and orchards, beftow upon us, exclufive of 
the pleafures they offer to the fenfes and the im- 
agination ! Can we reflect on the months that 
are pailed, without a grateful emotion, and with- 
out bleffing the Parent of nature, who has crown- 
ed the year with his mercies ? We &re now liv- 
ing upon the productions of fummer. We have 
obferved how active nature has been during this 
fine feafon, in fulfilling the Creator's beneficent 
views in favor of man. How many plants and 
flowers bloomed up in fpring ! How much corn 
and fruit has the fummer ripened, and how 
pleafing is the profpect of a plentiful autumnal 
harveft. 

Let us afk ourfelves whether the pleafures of 
the fummer have made us better or more grate- 
ful ? Have we raifed our hearts towards God 
in the contemplation of nature ? What have 
our employments been in the long fummer 
days ? Have we done good to our fellow crea- 
tures ? In beholding the fun, the flowers, and 
fo many delightful objects, have we experienced 
the fentiments which this magnificent fcene 
©ught naturally to infpire ? Or are we confcious 



200 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



that this fummer, like many others, has been 
thrown away upon us ? 

Let us blefs God that we ftill exift upon earth, 
let us reflect alfo that this may be our laft fum- 
mer. And knowing that we fhall be account- 
able for all thofe that we pafs, let us from 
henceforth try to redeem the time that we have 
loft. 







SEASONS OF THE TEAR. 2Ci 



£. REMEMBRANCE OF THE BLESSINGS WHICH SH 
AND SUMMER AFFORD US* 



" Summer brought on the fruits which Spring had Fois 'd, 
l » And nature trmmph'd in her genial prime : 

" Autumn fuccecded, and rich flieaves beftov, '■-': 
"And golden plenty fill'd the car of time." 



V^ome, O my friends j let us acknowledge the 
goodnefs of the Creator. Let us gratefully recal 
the time we have paffed in the fulnefs of joy s 
when, free from cares and anxiety, the renewal 
of nature filled us with delight ; when devotion 
followed us to the bower, and even the fhadow 
of forrow was banifhed our habitations ; when, 
hand in hand, we fought the flowery paths ia 
purfuit of the Creator, whom we found on every 
fide. Friendfhip, harmony, and innocent mirth, 
combined to heighten and endear our pleafares. 
Smiling nature lavifhing her flowers upon us, we 
breathed the balfamic odor of rofes. The pink 
and gillyflower perfumed the air around us ; 
and, towards the evening of a fine day, the play- 
ful zephyrs wafted fweets to us on their light 
wings. Then were our fouls filled with mild 
delight : Our lips opened in thankfgiving to the 



202 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

Lord, and our voices mixed with the fongs of the 
birds. At other times, when the breath of the 
wind had cooled the burning heat of the day, 
and the birds felt animated with new life ; when 
the clouds were all difperfed, and the great lu- 
minary promifed to be favorable to us, pleafure 
gave us wings •, we cheerfully forfook the noife 
of cities, to feek the green {hades, nature's bow- 
ers. There we were undifturbed. Wifdom, 
piety, joy, and innocence, attended us to this ru- 
ral aiylum. The trees waving with the breeze, 
while they covered us with their fhade, conveyed 
the moft refrefhing coolnefs to us, and Nature 
drew forth rich fources of content to pour into 
our pure hearts. There, entirely given up to 
the Creator, to nature, and to reflections on our 
happinefs, tears of fenfibility filled our eyes. This 
magnificent univerfe, faid we, is too beautiful to 
be the abode of the man who can unfeelingly be- 
hold it. As for us, who love God, we difcover 
in the zephyr, in the ftream, in the meads and 
flowers, in the blade of grafs, and the ear of corn, 
traces of his eternal wifdom, and, throughout all 
nature, heralds of his power. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 2©3 

AUTUMN. 

■ "' ■■■ ■ ■ % . 

REFLECTIONS ON THE AUTUMN. 



u Fair plenty now begins her golden reign, 

" The yellow fields thick wave with ripen'd grain ; 

*' Joyous the fwains renew their fultry toils, 

* And bear in triumph home the harveft's wealthy fpoils,* 3 



1$ the variation of the feafons did not awaken 
our recollection of the flight of time, we fhould, 
probably, not obferve the fucceffion of its differ- 
ent parts ; but fpend our days and months and 
years thoughtlefs of the paft, and carelefs of the 
future. The gradual and elegantly varied change 
of feafons is, therefore, a proof of the goodnefs 
of God, and may be a means of our inftru&ion. 
and happinefs. 

It is impoflible to afcribe this variation to 
chance,* as, in every country, the feafons fucceed 

* <c What carelefs and inconsiderate men afcribe in conv 
mon fpeech to chance or fortune, that is, to nothing at all % 
but a mere empty word, fignifying only their ignorance of the 
true caufes of things ; this the fcripture teaches to afcribe 
to the all-feeing and all-di renting Pr«vi4ence of God." 

!Dr, Clarke. 



204 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

each other in the moft regular manner, and ex* 
a£tiy at the time appointed ; and, as order is the 
great law which the Creator has laid down for 
the government of the world, it is our duty to 
ftudy the order and perfection of his works ; 
and, in every feafon of the year, to trace his wif- 
dom and goodnefs. 

At that feafon, indeed, which is called An- 
tumn y or more generally, in common language, 
the fall of the year > we fee little that recals to our 
minds the univerfal joy which lately reigned 
through all animated nature. We no longer be- 
hold the charms of fpring or the magnificence of 
fummer. The earth, no longer exhibiting that 
beautiful appearance which the grafs, the flowers, 
and the corn lately gave it, prefents«little more 
to our eye than a dead, yellowifh hue. The 
woods and gardens are (tripped of that great or- 
nament, their leaves. Scarcely any traces of the 
golden harveft remain. * The fields, which have 
bellowed fuch abundance upon us, promife no 
more this year. The winged fongfters are filent : 
and even the fun, when it fhines, appears not in 
its ufual glory. Unthinking and ungrateful 
men, forgetting what they have fo lately and {o 
plenteoufly received, complain of thefe things ; 
but wifer and well difpofed perfons, obferving 
that nature faithfully fulfils the eternal law of 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 205 

being always ufeful, refleft with gratitude on the 
months that are lately paft, and blefs the Parent 
of Nature who has " crowned the year with his 
goodnefs." 

Stripped and defert as the earth is, it ftill pre- 
fents to a feeling mind the image of happinefs ; 
we may recolledl that the fields, which are now 
barren, were lately covered with plentiful har- 
veils i and the remembrance of what they have 
beftowed upon us fhould lilence the murmurs of 
thofe whom it has cheered and nourished. 

Indeed we yet continue to receive pleafure 
from a variety of fruits which the goodnefs of 
God lavifhes upon us in great abundance. Cal- 
culate, if poflible, the fruit which one hundred 
trees bear in a favorable feafon, and you will be 
aftonifhed at the increafe. "What was the de- 
fign of fuch abundance ? If the prefervation and 
increafe of trees only was the intention, a much 
lefs quantity would have been fufficient. It is, 
therefore, evident that the Creator defigned to 
provide food for man, and particularly for the 
poor, whom an abundance of fruit furnifhes 
with a cheap means of fubfiftence which is not 
only agreeable, wholefome, andrefrefhing, but Is 
alfo very ufeful in the medicinal way. And it is z 
farther inftance of the goodnefs of God that thefe 
*ruits are beftowed upon us in a gradual manner, 



206 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

and with the moft wife economy ; that, on the 
one hand, too great an abundance may not be a 
load to us ; and, on the other, that we may re- 
ceive a conftant fucceffion and variety of enjoy- 
ments. In proportion, indeed, as we advance in 
winter, the number of fruits begins to diminifh; 
but art has taught us to preferve them in that 
feafon alfo ; and notwithftanding the ravages of 
birds and infects, there ftill remains a fufficient 
quantity for the ufe of man. 

Thus God, like a tender parent, provides not 
only for the fupport of his creatures, but alfo for 
their pleafure. Shall we not, then, be highly 
blameable if the enjoyment of the bleffings, 
which we owe to the munificence of our Creator, 
dees not produce in us grateful reflections, and 
thus fan&ify the pleafures of autumn ? 

It is alfo a proof of the wifdom and goodnefi 
of the Creator that the weather grows gradually 
cold. Were the earth fuddenly to be deprived of 
the fummer's heat, it would be fatal to our gar- 
dens and fields. All plants would perifh. 
Spring would produce no flowers, nor fummer 
any fruit. It is by no means, therefore, of little 
confequence that, from the end of fummer to 
the beginning of winter, the heat fhould gradually 
give place to the cold : Thefe infeniible changes 
were neceflary for the prefervation of the fruit* 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. %OiJ 

©f the earth ; and not for this only, but alfo for 
the prevention of the diforder, perhaps the de- 
ftrudHon, of the human frame. 

With what kindnefs, therefore, has our Crea- 
tor guarded our health and lives, by granting us 
iuch a temperature of air, during the months im- 
mediately following fummer, as prepares us, by 
degrees, to bear the increafe of cold without any 
bad effeft ! 

There are alfo many other creatures who, if 
the winter were to come without any preparation 
on them, would be unable to endure it. Two 
thirds of the infefts and birds would be deftroy- 
ed in one night : But now, by the gradual prog- 
refs of cold, they have time to make the nece£ 
fary preparations againft it. The increafing cold 
of autumn warns them to feek places where they 
may fleep quietly and fccurely during the fevere 
feafon, or to remove into warmer countries. 

The tnigration of birds is as aftonifhing as any 
thing in the whole compafs of nature ; and in 
this we may difcover the wife and kind direction 
of Providence, and the wonderful means which 
God employs to preferve many birds, and point 
out their fubfiftence to them, when it fails in 
fome countries. They regularly aflemble at a 
certain time, in order to depart all together ; 
fcarcely a deferter is ken on the day that fuc- 
ceeds their departure j and eyery circumftancc 
o 2 



208 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

of their journey has fomething in it almofi mU 
raculous. We are at a lofs which moft to ad- 
mire, the force that fuftains them in fo long a 
paflage, or the order in which the wliole is ac- 
complished. It is truly wonderful that thefe 
creatures fhould know the moft proper time for 
their paiTage. The difference of heat and cold, 
and the want of food, may incline them to 
change their habitation j but how comes it ta 
pafs that, when the air is fo mild, that they 
might remain, and find food enough, they never 
fail to depart at the appointed time ? Or how 
do they know that they fhall find food, and a 
proper degree of heat in other countries ? Shall 
we fuppofe that they have any remembrance of 
the country where they paffed a former winter \ 
that they fee the land to which they go from 
their height in the air \ that they follow the 
weather, and continue their flight till they find a 
climate fuitable to their prefent difpofition ; or, 
rather that, like flioals of fijfh, they purfue their 
prey ? Their food is infects \ with which, in 
fummer evenings, our atmofphere abounds j an4 
birds, who prey upon them, come hither in the 
fummer, becaufe our air is moifter than that of 
fome other countries, and therefore produces 
multitudes of thefe infefts ; hut, on the approach 
of cold weather, they die, and then thefe birds 
neceflarily quit us, and follow their food. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 3©9 

But that thefe creatures, who are void of rea- 
fon, fhould know fo exactly the way they are to 
go ; fhould do, what man cannot do, fleer their 
courfe unerringly over feas and lands, and com- 
plete their long journey without afliftance, with- 
out a guide, without provifions, in the moft reg- 
ular order, through rains, and winds, and dark- 
nefs ; that they fhould fly in large companies, in 
order to be lefs liable to be driven out of their 
courfe by ftorms ; and that, when the wind is 
contrary, they fhould wait until it changes, are 
circumftances really aftonifhing ; and they fur- 
nifh a remarkable inftance of a powerful inftintt 
imprefled on them by the Creator, who is their 
pilot and preferver. The confederation of thefe 
wonderful circumftances may employ, in a very 
pleafing manner, thofe whofe hearts are difpofed 
to the contemplation of the works of nature* 
and raife them to ftill nobler views 5 to the ado- 
ration of Him from whom thefe creatures have 
received their faculties, and who has prepared 
and combined fo many things for the fupport 
$nd increafe of this part of his creation. 

This, likewife, is the feafon in which great 
part of the food for ourfelves, and many other 
creatures, is committed to the earth. The far- 
mer now fows his winter grain, and leaves it to 
corruption, to the rain, the ftorms and the fun* 



213 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

and knows not what will be the event : for, after 
all his labors, man can do nothing, but .as an in- 
ftrument in the hand of Providence, towards the 
produ&ion of a plentiful harveft, or even of a 
fingle ear of corn. " Except the Lord blefs the 
ground, your labor is but loft that tiff it ; it is 
in vain that ye hafte to rife early, late take reft, 
and eat the bread of carefulnefs *" if God does 
&ot caufe his fun to fhine and his rain to fall in 
their feafon, your ftrength, in the very juft rep- 
refentation of the prophet, is but " to fit ftill." 
Man foweth, but God giveth the increafe ; and, 
when men have done all that is in their power, 
God fupplieth whatever is beyond their ability. 
In the winter, whilft the hufbandman refteth 
from his labors, the Almighty covereth the pre- 
cious feed, as with a garment ; deftroys, by froft, 
the weeds that would opprefs the rifing ftalk, or 
draw off its nourifhing fap ; and caufeth it in 
returning fpring, gradually, to fpread a beauti*. 
ful verdure over the face of the earth, givmg the 
promife of a plentiful harveft. In' the fum-> 
mer, he warms it by the beams of the fun, and 
refrefhes it by rain. Thus all nature, in every 
feafon, tends to the general good, and the fruit- 
fulnefs of the earth, under the dire&ion of the 
God of feafons. The more ftrongly to imprefs 
you with the conviction of this important truth, 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 211 

God is fometimes pleafed to difappoint your ex- 
pectations ; by firft fending, as the effe£iof your 
induftry, a plentiful crop, and then, as a punifh- 
inent for your ungrateful inattention to his Prov- 
idence, denying you the opportunity to " eat 
thereof." 

And, furely, when creatures forget their de-* 
pendence upon their Creator, it is proper that 
they fhould be awakened to a fenfe of their duty 
by chaftifements affefting them in the very in- 
ftance of their forgetfulnefs and ingratitude ; to 
convince them that the fuccefs of their labors de- 
pends entirely upon Providence ; and that, al- 
though the fruits of the earth maybe called their's, 
the feafons for gathering them are God's. Let us 
therefore, when we fee the fruits of the earth 
brought to maturity, and provifion made for our 
fupport through another year, direft our grateful 
thoughts to that Being on whom we conftantly 
depend, and from whofe unceafmg bounty we 
derive all our fupplies. He daily loadeth us with 
benefits ; but the bounty of harveft is too rich 
a bleffing to be daily befl:owed. This comes 
only in its " appointed weeks." Let it be re- 
ceived with thankfgiving and joy : and celebrate 
the praifes of that ever gracious Providence wha 
replenifhed our granaries with corn, loaded our 
trees with fruit, and crowned with plenty th% 
autumnal months ! 



21% CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



HARVEST HTMN. 



u Brown o'er the wide extended fields 
" The heavy harveft waves | 

u Its treafure to the reaper yields, 
" And forms the ponderous {heaves. 

** The loaded flack, the fpacious barn, 
" Receive the plenteous (lore ; 

a The bleflings of the coming year, 
" The riches of the poor. 

u Now, grateful for the bounty given, 

" Let conftant thanks arife, 
tt For every blifs that falls from heaven ? 

w Each hope beyond the ikies !" 



Our fields crowned with fruits and with corn, 
are a hymn to the Lord. The joy that fparkles 
in the eyes of the farmer is a hymn to the God 
of nature. It is he who makes the earth pro- 
duce bread, and he that loads us with bleflings. 
Let us afiemble together, and celebrate the 
goodnefs of the Lord. Let his praife be ever- 
more the fubjedt of our fong. Let us hearken 
unto the words he fpeaks to us, from the bofom 
of our fertile fields. u The year will crown thee 
with bleflings, O world ! Thy happinefs is my 
work : the crops and the iiarveft are the effe&s 
of my power. The rich meadows, and the hills 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 213 

covered with corn, are mine." Yes, Lord, we 
behold thy grandeur, and we feel the value of 
thy favors. It is through thee that we exift : 
life and food are the gifts of thy hands. 

We will rejoice in thy bleffings ; and our chil- 
dren will repeat after us : the God of heaven is 
our Father, the Lord, the almighty Lord is God ! 
. Praife waiteth for thee O God, and unto thee 
ihall the vow be performed. Thou makeft the 
outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice* 
Thou vifiteft the earth and watered it. Thou 
enricheft it with the dew, and cheerefl: it with 
the fun. Thou prepareft the ridges thereof, and 
they are fruitful ; and the vallies are covered 
over with corn. Thou bleffeft the labors of man^ 
$nd crowneft the year with thy goodnefs ! 



2*4 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



WINTER. 



REFLECTIONS ON THE WINTER. 



Oh Winter \ ruler of the invefted year I 

Thy fcatter'd hair with fleet like alhes fill'd, 

Thy breath congeaPd upon thy lips, thy cheek$ 

Fring'd with a beard made white with other fnow» 

Than thofe of age -; thy forehead wrapt in clouds, 

A leaflefs branch thy fceptre, and thy throne 

A Hiding car, indebted to no wheels, 

But urg'd by ftorms along its fiippery way ; 

I love thee, all unlovely as thou feem'fr, 

And dreaded as thou art !" 



If we were to examine the works of the Creator 
more attentively than we do, we fhould find, 
even at this feafon of the year, many reafons to 
rejoice in his goodnefs, and to praife the wonders 
of his wifdom. Few perfons are fo infenfible as 
not to feel emotions of pleafure and gratitude 
when the fpring, the fummer, and autumn, 
richly diiplay the bounties and the bleffings of 
Heaven ; but, when they fee the trees ftripped 
©f their fruit, and the fields without verdure ; 
when the bleak winds whittle around their dwell- 
ings y when " God giveth fhow like wool, and 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 2f£ 

fcattereth the hoar froft like allies," their hearts 
are feldom affected by gratitude. 

The other feafons, the value of which is fo 
little felt whilft they pafs, are often exjravagant- 
ly commended in the winter, when they can be 
no longer enjoyed. Such is the too common 
difpofition of men ; they do not efteem the blef- 
flngs they poffefs as they ought, nor know their 
value, until they are deprived of them. 

But is it indeed true that the fpring, the fum- 
mer, and the autumn alone deferve our attention 
and praife ; and that winter is deprived of the 
bleffings of Heaven, and void of motives to grat- 
itude and piety ? 

If we could fee the chain of Providence which 
links all nature, great would be our admiration 
of the wifdom and goodnefs of its Author. But, 
however incapable we are of forming a judgment 
of the whole of the Creator's works, the little we 
do underftand of them gives us abundant reafon 
to acknowledge that the government of God is 
infinitely wife and good. Winter is a part of the 
Creator's plan ; and, if we confider it ferioufly, 
we fhall find great reafon, even in winter, to 
praife our conftant benefactor. 

Millions of rational creatures, difperfed over 
the different countries of the world, are provid- 
ed, at this feafon, with all the neceffaries of life* 
But we muft not confine the wifdom and goad- 



2l6 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

nefs of God to mankind ; his care, during the 
winter, extends to animals far more in number 
than the rational creatures that inhabit the earth, 
who find their food on the furface and in the 
bofom of the earth, in the fields, the forefts, and 
mountains, in caves, and the hollow parts of 
rocks, in the rivers and the feas : and, however 
wonderful the prefervation of mankind may be, 
we muft confefs that the care of Providence to- 
wards animals is a ftill more aftonifhing proof of 
the wifdom, power, and goodnefs of God ; who 
« openeth his hand, and giveth unto all his crea- 
tures their meat in every feafon." 

That the prodigious number of animals which 
the world contains fhould find food and habita- 
tion during the fummer is not, perhaps, fo fur- 
priiing ; but that, in this feafon of the year, 
when the earth feems exhaufted by its fruitful- , 
nefs, the fame number of creatures fhould con- 
tinue to exift is truly aftonifhing. 

To guard animals againft the ufual feverity of 
the weather, Providence has furnifhed mod of 
them with a covering which enables them to en- 
dure the cold* Some are covered with hair; 
fome with fur , others with feathers ; and ma- 
ny with fcales and fhells. Each animal has 
what beft fuits it ; nothing unneceflary, noth- 
ing wanting ; and every thing fo complete, even 
in thq loweft creature, that all the art of man 




SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 21 7 

cannot imitate it. Many animals alfo, when 
the cold obliges them to quit their fummer 
dwellings, find a retreat in " clefts of the rocks" 
and caves ; whither fome of them carry before- 
hand the food which is to fupport them during 
winter. This cannot be done from forefight in 
thefe creatures, for that would be to fuppofe them 
endowed with more underftanding than they 
poflefs -, it muft therefore be in confequence of 
the direction of a fuperior power, whofe views 
they fulfil without knowing it. 

There are alfo animals who find their fub~ 
fiftence under fnow and ice ; and, probably, ma- 
ny means made ufe of by Providence for the 
prefervation of his creatures are unknown to us* 
One circumftance is particularly remarkable ; 
namely, that feveral animals pafs the winter in a 
profound fleep. Their bodies feem to bcfo 
formed that the cold benumbs them, and they 
fall into a found fleep ; which continues till the 
return of heat opens the earth, caufes their ne- 
cefTary food to fpring, and awakens tl\tm from 
their heavinefs. How admirable is the wifdora 
of God, who has pointed out to thefe creatures 
the places where they may fleep in fafety their 
night of winter, when they can no longer find 
food ; and who revives them, when the feafo» 
of their new life arrives ! 



tl8 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

Can we, on confidering thefe things, fail t# 
adore the gracious Father of all, to whom every 
animal, from the elephant to the mite, owes his 
dwelling, his food, and life ? Let this confidera- 
tion ftrengthen our confidence in our Heavenly 
Father. Oh " ye of little faith," anxious, reft- 
lefs, and difcontented, paufe and reflect on the 
goodnefs with which the Almighty fuftains the 
beafts of the field and the foreft, the birds of the 
air, and the filhes of the fea ; all of whom find, 
in all feafons, proper food and habitations ; and 
then a£k yourfelves whether he whofhews himfelf 
fo great and good in fmaller objects will neglect 
the more important ; whether God, who does 
not difdain to provide for the worm, will forget 
mankind ? And let this confideration teach you 
to imitate the generous care of Divine Provi- 
dence.* in contributing not only to the happinefs 
of your fellow creatures, but even to the welfare* 
of all that lives. They, who are not corrupted 
by bad habits, are naturally inclined to compaf- 
fion towards every thing that has life and feel* 
ing. This difpofition does honor to man ; and 
he who has rooted it out has but one ftep more 
to make ; which is, to refufe to his fellow crea- 
tures the compaffion he denies to brutes, and he 
will then be a monjlef. 

But the goodnefs of God in the appointment 
&f this feafon will appear ftill more plainly, if we 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 2ip 

confide^ that winter, fo far from being prejudicial 
to the fruitfulnefs of the earth* is very favdrable 
to it ; and that this is the feafon of reft fo necef- 
fary to nature. 

In the preceding months fhe exerted herfelf in 
fulfilling the defigns of the Creator by laboring 
in the fervice of his creatures : Like a good 
mother of a family, fhe employed herfelf from the 
morning to the evening of the year in procuring 
for her children the neceflaries, the conveniences, 
and comforts of life. Tired of fo many cares fhe 
now refteth \ but it is only to collect new force to 
be employed again for the benefit of the world ; 
to prepare in filence a new creation, and make the 
necefiary difpofitions that the earth may recover, 
at the end of a few months, the children fhe has 
loft. This repofe is not lefs necefiary to us, 
%ir lefs worthy of Providence, than the activ- 
ity fhe fhews in fpring and in fummer ; and 
the Almighty, in granting reft to the earth, 
enriches man with bleffings, to which the 
winter rains, however difagreeabje they may 
feem, very much contribute. They are the 
fource of all the beauties and treafures which 
, the fpring and the fummer lavifh on us, and 
i prepare for a fruitful and plentiful year \ they 
revive the earth, fill the rivers, and furnifh 
the fprings with water \ the bleffings therefore 
p 



220 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

which we receive from them are as innumerable 
as the drops which fall from the clouds ; and for 
this reafon, inftead of murmuring on account of 
the winter rains, as inconvenient and unpleafing, 
we fliould be moft thankful, confidering them 
as the caufes of fruitfulnefs ; for the earth re- 
quires not only reft, but moifture, to recover its 
ftrength ; and to this gracious purpofe does the 
fnow alfo contribute. 

From appearances we might be inclined to 
think thzt fnow cannot be ufeful to the earth ; 
but the experience of all ages has taught us that 
nothing better fecures corn, plants and trees from 
the bad effe&s of cold than fnow. The fait alfo, 
which fntfw contains, when foftened by the fun, 
and diflblved gradually, is fuppofed to enrich the 
earth more than rain, or other manures ; agreea- 
bly to the words of the fcripture, " The rain 
cometh down and the fnow from Heaven, and 
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, 
and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may 
give feed to the fower, and bread to the eater." 

We all of us often fee fnow fall, but very few 
of us, it is to be feared, confider its nature or its 
ufe. Such, however, is the fate of many things 
which we have almoft daily before our eyes, 
though we receive great advantages from them. 
Let us learn to be wifer ; and refledl that God 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR- 221 

laath ordained that the rain, which in the fum~ 
mer cools and refreshes the earth, mould, in the 
winter, fall in the form of foft flakes of wool, and 
fcreen the fruits of it from the inclemency of the 
cold. 

And, as God " giveth fnow like wool/' fo 
doth he alfo u fcatter the hoar froft like afhes." 
When the dew falleth in a cold night, it freezes, 
and the face of the earth is covered with the hoar 
froft 5 which lies, like allies, upon the corn and 
grafs, and hangs on plants, and boughs of trees, 
very pleafing to the eye, though very piercing 
where it falls. This alfo cometh from God, 
« who is wonderful in counfel and excellent in 
working." 

But although the earth, at this feafon, may be 
compared to a mother who has been deprived of 
thofe children from whom me had the befl: hopes, 
{he is not bereaved of all her children. Many 
' vegetables preferve their verdure in winter, and 
loie none of their fummer ornaments ; and they 
are emblems of that virtue which is immortal, 
and furvives all outward beauty ; emblems of that 
moft refpeclable character, a benevolent old man ; 
who, in the winter of his life refembles thofe 
plants which fiourilh with undecaying verdure ; 
in whom a mild cheerfulnefs, the happy remains 
of his fpring time, is feen \ whofe virtues make 



2Z2 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

ample amends for the ravages which age may 
have made on his perfon*; and whofe wifdom, 
integrity, and experience, ferve for examples and 
leflbns to all around him. 

We have reafon alfo to praife God for winter, 
which is certainly very ufeful ; and, even fuppof- 
ing that its advantages were not fo apparent, it 
would be fufficient for us to know that winter is 
the work of the Creator, and that all which comes 
from him muft be for the beft. They alfo who 
are defirous of making ufe of every opportunity 
to improve their hearts, will gladly be reminded 
of the obligation they are under of employing 
even their winter days fo as to become days of 
comfort to their fouls. It is eafy to prove how 
agreeable as well as advantageous this duty would 
be. How rational and cheerful would our piety 
be, if each new appearance of nature led us to 
trace it up to our Father and our God ! When 
we fee the earth covered with fnow, the rivers 
clogged with ice, the trees ftripped of their leaves, 
and the whole fare of nature barren and defolate, 
let us reflecl on the defign of the Creator in thus 
ordaining it, and we fhall foon be convinced that 
every thing is planned with wifdom, and that all 
the laws of Providence combine for the general 
good. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 223 

There are many objects at this feafon, which 
may furnifh us with ufeful refl e&ions, and not 
only agreeably employ our minds, but amend our 
hearts. The fhortnefs of the days Ihould lead us 
to reflect on the v fhort duration of human life ; 
and on the wifdom, the importance, and neceffity 
of making a good ufe of our time : and the fud- 
dennefs with which night fometimes comes on, 
and interrupts us in the midft of our employ- 
ments^ fhould teach us to be careful that death 
does not furprife us when we leaft expeft it, in the 
midft of our fchemes for many years to come. 

As nature, after fulfilling the defigns of the 
Creator, refteth from her labors during winter ; 
fo man, whofe provision is made, and w r hofe 
wants fupplied, enjoys a repofe fuitable to the 
feafon. Happy they who employ it in cultivat- 
ing their minds, improving their hearts, and 
laying up the treafure of good works. 

Does the winter contribute to our health ? 
Let us then not be fo imprudent as to make that 
feafon difagreeable, or painful, which may be the 
fource of the pureft pleafures \ nor deftroy, by 
intemperance, that health which the Lord of fife 
would preferve with fo much goodnefs. 

Have we a warm dwelling ? Do we enjoy the 
conveniences and the comforts of life ? Should 
not this teach us to confider our poor fellow 
f z 



224 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

creatures -, fome of whom, fore pierced by win- 
try winds, have, perhaps, neither food, nor fire, 
nor raiment ; are ftretched upon the bed of fick- 
nels, and too modeft to proclaim their wants ? 
Winter renders beneficence to the poor the more 
necefTary, becaufe it increafes their wants ; and 
we give a double value to our kindnefs when we 
beftow it feafonably. The more the feverity of 
the feafon increafes, the more ready we fhould 
be to relieve the neceffitous, and to pour into the 
bofom of poverty all that we can fpare. It is 
our duty to foften the calamities of our diftrelTed 
fellow creatures, to give them of our abundance, 
or fhare our little with them, Recolleft that 
the mercy and goodnefs of the God of feafons 
continually attend you through all the changing 
fcenes of life ; that if you are happy in your 
health, your fortune> and charafter, you owe all 
to him ; that it is he who " caufeth one man to 
differ from another ;" and that the beft return 
you can make for his mercies and bleffings, is to 
foften, as much as you can, the diftrefles of you? 
fellow creatures, and to permit no one to fink un- 
der mifery, which it is in your power to relieve 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR* 225 



DUTY OF COLLE CTING OUR THOUGHTS IN WINTER* 

* l Now, all amid the rigors of the year, 

*< In the wild depth of winter, while without 

" The ceafelefs winds blow ice, be my retreat, 

" A rural, {helter*d,folitary fcene; 

*< Where ruddy fire and beaming tapers join 

" To cheer the gloom. There ftudious let me fit/* 

THOMPSON. 



i hose who are folicitous to make ufe of every 
opportunity to improve their minds will glad- 
ly be reminded of the obligations which they are 
under of employing even their winter days, in 
ufeful ftudy and ferious meditation. It is 
eafy to prove how agreeable as well as advanta- 
geous this duty may be made. How perfect 
would our piety become if every change, every 
new appearance of nature led us to trace it up to 
God, whofe glory is as manifeft in winter as in 
any other feafon ! 

" In the fummer feafon the warm temperature 
of the air, the beauty of a vivid foliage, and the 
fweet fmiles of univerfal nature, allure men 
from their ftudious retirement, and tempt them 
to roam in the funfhine from flower to flower 
like the butterfly. But when the days are grad- 
ually contracted, and the cold weather caufes the 



226 



CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



fwallow to wing her way to more genial climes, 
the. gaudy infedt to retire to its warm and fafe 
concealment, and the leaf to affiime the yellow 
and ruffet tinge of autumnal decay, and at length 
to drop from its parent branch, the man of kn~ 
timent fympathizes with the fcene around him, 
fhrinks under hi^ i*oof and into himfelf ; and 
feeks that folace which the funny hill and the 
verdant mead no longer afford him, at the fire 
fide, in the converfe of thofe whom he loves or 
efteems ; or in an elegant and philofophic foli- 
tude, reading, writing, and contemplating the 
productions of art during the repofe of nature."* 

Now is the time to open the volumes of fci- 
ence, and ftore the mind with the leffons of wif- 
dom : to perufe the inftru&ive pages of hiftory, 
and thence draw encouragement to virtue and 
diffuafives from vice, by feeing their effects in 
the example and fate of others. 

This feafon of leifure and retirement fhould 
alio be improved to the purpofes of examining 
our own hearts and lives. Thus let us improve 
it. Let us correct our errors, and ftrengthen the 
principles, the difpofitions, and habits of goodnefs. 
Calling in our thoughts, fo apt to wander, let us 

* The compiler has taken the liberty of introducing the 
above paragraph from Dr. Knox's Winter Evening Lucubra- 
tions, 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 



227 



employ them to worthy purpofes ; engage them 
in the purfuits of fcience, or exercife them in the 
all important concerns of religion. Let us real- 
ize the vanity of life ; arrange our temporal and 
fpiritual affairs > gradually detach our affections 
from the world; and prepare forafuperior region* 
beyond the ftorms of wintry time, and the un- 
comfortable viciffitudes and blighting difafters of 
mortality. 




2*8 CONTEMPLATIONS OK THE 



HYMN OF PRAISE TO GOD. 



" O let fo/ all, our grateful praife arife, 

" To him whofe mandate fpake the world to form : 
u Spring's lively bloom and summer's cheerful ikies, 

<c Autumn's rich field, and winter's healthful ftorm !" 

SCOTT, OF AMWELL 



All the heavenly hoft glorify the power and 
majefty of the Creator, and all the globes which 
roll in the immenfe expanfe celebrate the wifdom 
of his works. The fea, the mountains, and the 
woods, created by a fingle aft of his will, are the 
harbingers of his love, the heralds of his power* 
Shall I alone be filent ? Shall I not attempt to 
offer up thankfgiving though the pure fpirits 
themfelves can offer but imperfect praife ? 

By what power do thofe millions of funs fhine 
with fo much fplendor ? Who direfts the won- 
derful courfe of the fpheres ? What chain unites 
them ? What force animates them ? It is thy 
breath O Lord ! It is thy almighty word. Thou 
art all in all. Thou calledft the worlds, and they 
obeyed. Then was our globe produced. The 
birds and the fifli, the cattle and the wild beafts 
of the field, and laftly man himfelf came to in- 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR, 12$ 

habit it and rejoice. It is through thee, that the 
hand of fpring fpreads the green lawn under our 
feet. It is thou that gildeft the corn, and giveft 
purple to the grape ; the fummer glows with thy 
goodnefs ; autumn is loaded by thy bounty ^ 
and winter fupplied with thy {lores. 

Through thee the mind of man penetrates the 
fyftem of the univerfe, and becomes a proficient 
In the knowledge of thy works ; is fufceptible of 
the pleafure, and participates the bounty of na- 
ture. In thee we live and move and tj^ve our 
being. O may we live to thee, and with thee 
forever. 




23O CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



RAPIDITY WITH WHICH LIFE PASSES AWAY* 



• " Behold, fond man 



* c See here thy pichir'd life ; pafs forne few years 

" Thy flowery Spring, thy Summer's ardent ftrength, 

" Thy fober Autumn fading into age, 

" And pale concluding Winter comes at-laft 

" And fhuts the fcene " 



THOMPSON 1 . 



Our life is fhort and tranfitory. Let us con- 
fider with what fwiftnefs the days, the weeks, 
the months, and the years have paffed, or rather 
flown away. They were over even before we 
perceived it. Let us endeavor to recall them to 
mind and to follow them in their rapid flight. 
Is it poffible to give an account of the different 
seras ? If there had not been in our lives certain 
very remarkable moments, which made impre£- 
fion on our minds, we fhould be ftill iefs able to 
recollect the hiftories of them, flow many the 
years of our infancy, of which we can fay noth- 
ing but they have glided away ? How many oth- 
ers have paiTed in the thoughtlefsnefs of youth ; 
during which, mifled by our inclinations, and 
given up to pleafure, we had neither the wifh, 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 23 1 

nor the time, to look into ourfelves ? To thefe 
years fucceeded thofe of a riper age, more capable 
of refle&ion. We then thought it was time to 
change our way of life, and to aft like reafonable 
beings, but the bufmefs of the world took pofTef- 
fion of us to fuch a degree that we had no leis- 
ure to reflect on our paft lives. Our families in- 
creafed, and our cares and endeavors to provide 
for them increafed in proportion. Infenfibly the 
time draws nigh when we fliall arrive at old age ; 
and perhaps, even then, %ve fhall neither have op- 
portunity nor force of mind to recolledt the paft, 
to reflect upon the period to which we are come, 
upon what we have done, or neglected to do 5 
in a word, to conflder the purpofes for which we 
were placed in this world. In the mean time 
how are we certain of ever attaining advanced 
age ? A thoufand accidents break the tender 
thread of life before it comes to its full length, 
The child, juft born, falls and is reduced to dufh 
The young man, who gave the higheft hopes, is 
cut down in the age of bloom and beauty ; a vi- 
olent illnefs, an ..unfortunate accident lays him in 
the grave. Dangers and accidents multiply with 
years ; negligence and excefs lay the feeds of 
maladies, and difpofe the bodies to catch thofe 
that are epidemical. The laft age is ftill more 
dangerous. In a word, half of thofe who ars 



232 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 

born are carried out of the world, and perifh ift 
the fhort fpace of their firft feventeen years. 
Behold the concife, but faithful hiftory of life ! 
O may we employ thofe days, fo lhort, and fo 
important, in learning how to number them, and 
to redeem the time which flies fo fwiftly away ! 
Even whilft we make thefe reflections fome mo- 
ments are flown. What a precious treafure of 
days and hours fhould we not lay up, if, from 
the moments which we have to difpofe of, we 
often devoted fome of them to fo ufeful a pur- 
pofe ! Let us think of it'ferioufly ; every inftant 
is a portion of life impoffible to be recalled, but 
the remembrance of which may be either the 
fource of joy or forrow. What heavenly enjoy- 
ment it is to be able to look happily on the paft, 
and to fay to one's felfwith truth, "I have lived 
fo many years, during which I have gained much 
knowledge, enjoyed much happinefs, and done 
much good." We fhould be able to hold this 
language, if we fulfilled the end for which life 
was given us \ if we devoted the fhort fpace of 
time to the great interefts of eternity. 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR- 233 



INSTABILITY OF EARTH LT THINGS. 



• " Life fpeeds away 



* From point to point, though feeming to ftand dill, 

" The cunning fugitive is fwift by Health ; 

" Too fubtle is the movement to be feen ; 

w Yet foon man's hour is up, and we are gone/' 

youNq* 



There Is nothing in nature that is not liable to 
change. Every thing is uncertain and frail. 
Nothing is durable enough to remain always like 
itfelf. The moft folid bodies are not fo impene- 
trable, nor their parts fo clofely united, as to be 
iecure from diflblution. Each particle of matter 
infenfibly alters its form. How many changes 
has each of our bodies undergone fince Its forma- 
tion ! Every year it has loft fomething of what 
made a part of itfelf, and has acquired new mat- 
ter from vegetable and animal fubftances. 

Every thing on earth increafes and decreafes 
by turns ; but with this difference, that the chan^ 
ges do not operate fo quickly in fome bodies as in 
©thers. The celeftial globes appear to be ftill the 
fame as at the moment of their creation, and they 
are, perhaps, the moft invariable of all bodies* 



234 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE * 

Thofe however who have obferved them with at- 
tention, perceive that fome liars have difappeared, 
and that the fun has fpots which change, and 
thus they prove that it is not conftantly the fame. 
Its motion alfo makes it liable to variation ; and 
though it is never extinguifhed, it has been ob- 
fcured by fogs, clouds, and even by internal rev- 
olutions. This is all we can know of it at the 
immeafurable diftance there is between us. How 
many other- external, as well as internal changes, 
fhould we difcover, were we nearer ! 

If we are more ftruck with the inftability of 
earthly things, it is becaufe they are within our 
view. And how frail are thefe ! How liable to 
change ! Each objedt continues to look like itfelf, 
snd yet how different in reality is it from what it 
was ? We daily behold things taking new forms ; 
fome growing, others diminifhing and perifhing. 
This year, which will foon be at an end, affords 
undeniable proofs of it. In each one's own little 
circle he muft have experienced many revolutions. 
Several of thofe we had known for many years 
are no more. Many perfons whom we have feen 
rich are become poor, or are at leaftbut in indiffer- 
ent circumftances. If we examine ourfelves alfo, 
we fliall find a difference in many refpe£ts. Have 
rot our health and activity diminifhed ? And are 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 235 

not all thefe things fo many warnings of our ap- 
proach towards that great and final revolution 
which death will operate upon us. Befides a 
there are many changes which may ftill take 
place in the fhort term of life allowed us. We 
may foon become poor, or fick ; we may experi- 
ence the infidelity of friends, or the approaches of 
haftening diffolution. Many things certainly 
may happen which it is at prefent impoffible to 
forefee. Such reflexions muft inevitably opprefs 
and fink us to defpair, if religion were not our 
fupport and confolation. But this leads us to 
look up to the only invariable, everlafting Being, 
whofe very nature is immutability, and whofe 
mercy has no end. Full of confidence therefore 
in his unchangeable goodnefs, let us fubmit with 
refignation to all the changes of this tranfitory 
world. 



23 6 CONTEMPLATIONS ON THE 



CLOSE' OF THE TEAR. 



" NowT will climb yon rough rock's giddy height, 
" That o'er £he ocean bends his brow fevere ; 

** And. as I mufe on time's neglected flight, 
tt Wait the laft funfhine of the parting year." 

MERRT. 



The clofe of the year leads me to reflections 
which, however important they may be, do not 
always occupy me as they ought. In order to 
feel more fenfibly how fhort the term of life is, I 
will examine the ufe I have made of my paft 
days ; though I have reafon to believe it will 
prove a fubjeft of humiliation to me. I firft re- 
cal to my mind thofe days the ufe of which it 
was not in my power to command. How many 
hours were then employed in mere bodily wants ? 
How many more have pafled in trifling occupa- 
tions of no fervice to the mind ? Thus in flight- 
ly looking over the ufe made of thefe years, I 
difcover a multitude of days loft to the immortal 
foul, which inhabits this body of clay ; and, after 
thefe deductions, what will remain which I may 
juftly fay have been employed for real*happi- 
nefs ? Out of 365 days, it is plain, that I can 
fcarce reckon fifty* 



SEASONS OF THE YEAR. 237 

And of the little that remains of time, how 
much do I lofe by my own fault and weaknefs. 
How many days have been facrificed to vice and 
folly. Perhaps many of thofe granted me for 
reflection have been devoted to the worlds to 
vanity, idlenefs, and falfe pleafures. Perhaps 
they may have been profaned by impurity, envy, 
jealoufy, flander, and other vices, which betray a 
heart void of refpect for God and charity to our 
neighbor. Even when infpired with a defire to 
walk in his paths, how much time is irrecovera- 
bly loft in thoughtleflhefs, indifference, doubts, 
anxiety, want of temper, attd all thofe infirmities 
which are the effects of frailty. Alas ! how 
fwiftly does the little fpace of time we can dif- 
pofe of fly away ! A year paffes almoft infenfi- 
bly ; and yet a year is of great confequence to a 
Being whofe life is reckoned by hours. Before 
we have well thought of it, a year is gone. 
When we recollect how little of it we may have 
•fpent fuitably to the purpofes of our creation, we 
may well wifti to recal thofe hours which were 
ill employed- But it is in vain. The year, with 
the good and bad actions which have marked it, 
are fwallowed up for ever in eternity. 

Let this awful thought influence our minds fo 

as to redeem the time we have loft, by making 

the wifeft, the moft virtuous improvement of 

what remains. 

F I A r / S. 




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